JD Journal » profit per partner

Revenue and Profits up at Reed Smith

joshua — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 19:49:15 +0000

2010 was a good year for Reed Smith, as revenues and profits, along with other key financial numbers all moved upward. Gross revenue moved up 1.7% and the firm also increased its profit margin by a point. And it managed to do this while increasing head count and billable hours, another indicator that the legal market is beginning to thaw out.

Head count at Reed Smith ticked up slightly, from 1,433 to 1,449 lawyers. Equity partnerships remained flats, but the non equity partner class grew by over 3%. Profits per partner came in at $1.05 million.

Gregory Jordan, the firm’s managing partner, attributed the good year to the firm’s commitment to maintaining strong relationships with clients.

Revenue Down, Profits Up at Cadwalader

joshua — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 19:06:05 +0000

For the fourth consecutive year, revenues are down at Cadwalader. That’s the bad news. The good news is that profits per equity partner ticked up slightly for the second year in a row.

Unlike many firms that have seen revenues fall while profits rose, Cadwalader did not have any significant cuts to operating expenses in 2010. More specifically, headcount remained relatively static. There were some major cuts in the previous 2 years, but in 2010 the headcount dropped by only three percent. The firm attributes this years per partner profit growth to strategic planning decisions and points in particular at the acquisition of some top talent from other firms early in the year.

Established in 1792, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP is one of the world’s leading international law firms, with offices in New York, London, Charlotte, Washington and Beijing. Cadwalader serves a diverse client base, including many of the world’s top financial institutions, undertaking business in more than 50 countries on six continents.

Revenue Down, Profits Up at Dechert

joshua — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 17:48:24 +0000

Dechert, llp

For the second straight year, revenues at Dechert dropped in 2010 although profits continued to go up. During the same period the number of equity partners held steady but total headcount dropped by over 8% from 2008 to 2009 and 12% from 2009 and 2010. According to Dechert’s Chairman Barton Winkour, the headcount reduction occurred almost entirely in mid 2009, but that means those lawyers were counted for half a year in 2009 and not at all in 2010.

Total profits at the firms were up close to 1% and profits per partner went from $1.96 million to $2.01 million. Winkour attributes the increase in profitability to the firm’s ability to change its profile along with the changing legal landscape. Reducing the number of lawyers involved in real estate law while adding a financial institutions practice group, for example.

With offices throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia, Dechert LLP is an international law firm focused on financial services and asset management, corporate and securities, tax law, business restructuring and reorganization, complex litigation and international arbitration, life sciences, labor and employment, intellectual property, and finance and real estate.

Orrick to Change Profit Reporting

joshua — Sun, 16 May 2010 04:46:37 +0000

San Francisco based Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe announced Wednesday that as of this year it will no longer publish its average profit per partner. Profit per partner, long seen as the standard way to measure a law firm’s performance, was described as “no longer the right way to evaluate ourselves” by Orrick Chairman Ralph Baxter.

Baxter went on to say that the profit per partner metric gives clients a negative impression of the firm: “Clients don’t like the perception that law firms are organized to drive the income of its partners.”

In 2009, Orrick reported gross revenue of $847.5 million and profits per partner of $1.3 million.

Revenue Down, Profits Up at Latham Watkins

joshua — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:55:57 +0000

While gross revenue at Latham & Watkins decreased five percent to $1.821 billion in 2009, profit-per-partner managed to rise by five percent to $1.902 million. Helping to account for the rise in PPP was a big increase in net income from $786 million to $844 million.

The numbers are a big improvement from 2008 when the firm’s profits were down 20.5 percent. That resulted in the layoffs of 190 associates and 250 staff in March of last year. Currently there are 1,880 attorneys at Latham Watkins, down from 2,102. The number of equity partners grew from 436 to 444 and the number of non-equity partners grew from 122 to 131.

Latham & Watkins was founded in 1934 and has 29 offices around the world.

Revenues and Profits Increase at Sheppard Mullin

sara — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:47:58 +0000

Los Angeles based firm Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton reported slight increases in revenue and profits in 2009. Revenue increased 2.5% to $361 million. Profits per equity partner were $1.244 million, an increase of 3.5%. Revenue per lawyer though decline to $753,645, 1.8%.

Last year the firm cut 25 lawyers in the first two months. In January 2009 the firm also announced a freeze of associate compensation for the year. The freeze is no longer in effect. Sheppard Mullin chair Guy Halgren says that the demand for transactional and real estate work was low, the decline in those areas was offset by a demand for labor and employment, bankruptcy, government contracts and anti-trust practices.

Founded in 1927 Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton is a general practice firm with over 520 attorneys in 11 offices.

Paul Weiss Profits Up

joshua — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:24:42 +0000

According to Paul Weiss chairman Brad Karp, 2009 was “the most profitable year in our firm’s history”. Not bad for a year marked by recession and uncertainty in the legal market and a nice repeat of 2008′s growth. What’s most remarkable is that Paul Weiss dramatically increased profits without resorting to layoffs – in fact, the attorney head count inched up by six to 653.

Gross revenues were down slightly, but per partner profits rose from $2.65 million to $2.69 million. The increase was driven by a strong year for the restructuring and litigation practices. The firm represents several large financial institutions that have taken some heat over the last year, like Citigroup, Bank of America, and JP Morgan/Bear Stearns. With more legal action on that front expected in 2010, the firm expects to have another good year.

Cadwalader Profits per Partner Increase By 28%

sara — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 16:18:02 +0000

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft reported a 28% increase in profits per partner for 2009, marking the first per partner increase for the firm since 2007. However, this increase may be attributed to an almost 21% loss in the number of equity partners in the firm and massive associate layoffs. Cadwalader had 61 equity partners at the end of August 2009, compared to 77 a year earlier.

Gross revenue dropped 10% while net icome increased 1.38% to $147 million. The firm reported gross revenue of $456.5 million for 2009. In 2008 the firm announced the layoffs of 131 associates. In early 2009 a further 25 lawyers received layoffs and in July 2009 34 lawyers were offered a one-year sabbatical. Cadwalader reported 457 lawyers at the end of August 2009, down 12.6% from a year earlier when they had 523.

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft was founded in New York City in 1792 and is one of the worlds leading financial law firms. Its practice includes the areas of capital markets, bankruptcy, real estate, insurance and income tax. It has offices located in New York, London, Washington, D.C., Charlotte and Beijing.

UK Firms Feel the Pinch

joshua — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:58:00 +0000

The top 100 UK firms by revenue dropped saw profits decline by an average of 30% last year, according to a new report out from PricewaterhouseCoopers. The largest decline in income came in the second tier of firms, those listed at #11-25, where partner per partner profits were down by 28%. Firms in the “magic circle”, the top ten, had per partner profits ranging from 850,000 to 1.4 million pounds, which was still a 21% drop from last year.