Summary: Locke Lord had a big year with a merger helping to contribute to an overall increase in gross revenue and net income.
Thanks to a merger last year, Locke Lord is reporting a 40 percent gross revenue increase and a 1.6 percent net income increase. The Dallas-based firm merged with Edwards Wildman Palmer at the beginning of last January. The end result was a firm with 23 offices and over 1,000 lawyers.
Austin chair Jerry Clements said, “All and all, considering we did a major combination of two very large law firms, I am very happy with the results.” The profits per partner averaged at $890,000 at Locke Lord last year, which is down 8.3 percent compared to before the merger. Revenue per lawyer was at an average of $705,000, also down 4.7 percent compared to 2014 numbers. However, these numbers are still higher than what Edwards Wildman was pulling in.
See Locke Lord Inherited Problem Case from Edwards Wildman to learn about the merger.
A merger can make for a tough year but Locke Lord is happy with the year’s results, making their budget for net income. Clements explained, “It’s no secret we merged with a great Boston firm with a long history and a storied reputation, but obviously their metrics weren’t as good as ours. You are seeing that in the comparison. But with the merger year behind us, we expect really good things this year for a lot of good reasons.”
Each firm had strengths in specific practices such as Locke Lord had a private equity practice with strength in the energy sector where as Edwards Wildman’s private equity practice focused on health care, life sciences, and manufacturing distribution.
Read Trio of Partners Leave Locke Lord for Choate to learn about some of the changes after the merger.
One conflict from the merger was between the Pharmaceutical IP lawyers at Locke Lord and the group at Edwards Wildman. Locke Lords were more concerned with generic drugs whereas Edwards Wildman’s focused on branded drugs. The attorneys from Edwards Wildman ended up leaving.
Source: http://www.texaslawyer.com/id=1202751283771/Gross-Revenue-Net-Income-Up-at-Locke-Lord-in-2015
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