Only 23 per cent of senior partners said that they had a business plan for dealing with Brexit, despite 60 per cent of more than 100 managing partners at firms in all UK jurisdictions describing Brexit as a “threat”, The Brief reports.

The report, due to be published on the Smith & Williamson website today, states: “The long-term impact of Brexit on new business and existing clients is of greatest concern, while the ability to expand specialist services is seen as the most significant potential benefit.”

The survey found that the other top concerns for senior partners — besides Brexit — were the challenges of attracting high quality lawyers and staff (72 per cent), adopting new technologies (51 per cent) and differentiating their firms from competitors (43 per cent).

A vast majority (80 per cent) of partners said the marketplace had become more competitive over the past year than the year before, but most did not consider that their firm was likely to merge with another.