US firm Bingham McCutchen’s London office has seen an increase in profit amidst a slight decrease in turnover.
The average profit per equity partner went up 7.4 percent, going from $1.75 million to $1.88 million. Turnover fell 4.6 percent, going from $32.5 million to $31 million.
James Roome, the London managing partner at Bingham McCutchen, said, “Restructuring really kicked in towards the end of the year with things like home builders and the car manufacturers, but it is the range of work we do for financial investors that kept us going.”
The rise in profit per equity partner was partly due the fact that the firm went from 12 partners to 11. Litigation partner Neil Micklethwaite left the firm in August 2007 to launch a litigation/human rights outfit with Roger Gherson, who worked with Micklethwaite at Gouldens.
“We’re pretty cautious,” said Roome. “We’re now glad that we haven’t made some of the big investments that some other firms have.”