Aria Grace Law looks to ‘spread the wealth’
A corporate law firm has pledged to donate all of its profits to charity each year in an effort to “spread wealth with clients, lawyers and society”.
Aria Grace Law, a law firm which has 30 lawyers all of whom are partners, will give at least £150,000 to charitable causes if it reaches its financial targets this year.
According to Aria Grace Law founder Lindsay Healy, giving back is “integral” to the firm’s ethos. He said:
“Our model, when you boil it right down, is to spread wealth, with clients, lawyers and society as one ecosystem. We want to get away from the typical law firm triangle where the people at the top make the money and the people at the bottom do the work”
He continued: “We believe there is a better way, and through working together and sharing more, we are creating more. I am not surprised to find that plenty of top-quality lawyers agree, particularly at a time where businesses need to prove their principles with deeds rather than words.”
The firm’s lawyers previously kept 85% of their fees and the remaining sum after overheads, was redistributed back to them — leaving less than 5% for charity.
Under the new model, lawyers will retain 90% of their fees and all profits generated will go to charitable causes including Great Ormond Street Hospital from this month onwards. The firm aims to reach a turnover of at least £2 million in its current financial year. “Everyone wins: clients and lawyers, and because of our model, society and the next generations,” said Healy, a former solicitor at Norton Rose Fulbright.
Aria Grace’s commitment is in stark contrast to the profit per equity partner (PEP) model, whereby a firm will distribute its profits amongst its equity partners.
The Aria Grace’s announcement comes as the UK’s top law firms publish their 2019-20 financial results.
Last week, magic circle firm Freshfields reported a 1% dip in PEP to £1.82 million, while Clifford Chance confirmed PEP was up 5% to £1.69 million each. This came after the publication of magic circle duo Allen & Overy (A&O) and Linklaters‘ results earlier this month — with A&O seeing a 1.7% decrease in PEP to £1.63 million each, while Links confirming a 5.1% PEP drop to a still whopping £1.61 million each.
