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Cadwalader Profits Plummet 30% in 2008

The American Lawyer reports that America’s oldest law firm, Manhattan’s Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, saw its average profits per equity partner fall more than 30% in 2008.

Cadwalader’s equity partners will take home average profits of a mere $1.88 million, down from $2.73 million in 2007. Revenue fell to $506 million, down 13.8%.

Rumors abounded that profits per partner might fall 50%, so there may be sighs of relief coming from partners afraid they might have to switch to the cheaper domestic caviar.

In October, consulting firm Hildebrandt International said that firms with “significant capital markets practices” like Cadwalader would likely see average drops for partner profits of 5 to 15%, “with a few firms seeing even steeper declines.”

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe saw profits per partner fell 21% to $1.315 million. Thacher Proffitt & Wood is in the process of dissolving because of what it said were “severe reductions in revenue.”

Erik Even: