National player Bond Dickinson had a disappointing year financially, with turnover down 3% to £104m, while profit per equity partner (PEP) has also dropped 3% to £275,000, a stark contrast to the firm’s performance in last year’s Legal Business 100, where PEP soared 26% to £284,000 and turnover climbed 8% to £107m. Blaming the results on a harder mid-market and significant IT investment, managing partner Jonathan Blair says that despite the tougher conditions, real estate, private client and transport all performed particularly well.
‘Real estate was strong for us – on the operational property side, on the investor side, on the house building side,’ he says. ‘Private wealth has always been an area for us that has been very reliable. It seems to be able to withstand the vagaries you get in litigation, which tends to be counter cyclical, or M&A activity or any transactional activity. Private wealth is always pretty strong – we have grown that and worked hard on it.’
However, Bond Dickinson has continued to make strides internationally over the last financial year, securing an exclusive strategic alliance with full-service US firm Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice in June. Womble Carlyle, a mid-market firm with a large offering in Charlotte, North Carolina, has a further 14 offices across the US, and will refer all UK work to Bond Dickinson and vice versa. With around 550 lawyers and 300 partners, Womble Carlyle has been a non-exclusive referral firm for Bond Dickinson for around six years predominantly in the corporate space, however, this new arrangement is likely to boost both firms’ fintech and private wealth businesses.
This formal tie-up follows on from the firm’s first-ever strategic alliance with German firm Redeker Sellner Dahs, which Bond Dickinson secured in December 2014. Other highlights for Bond Dickinson this year include a number of client wins and panel reappointments, which includes British Gas, TSB, Taylor Wimpey and Barclays – the latter cut the number of its legal advisers by over 60% after its high-profile global review finalised in June. The firm was also reappointed to Network Rail’s adviser panel for a further three years.
LB: Are clients still pushing hard on price?
Jonathan Blair: It is a bit old hat now to talk about the increasing power of GCs but that is where the power base is. We are seeing some real pressure around how we price jobs and we, like a number of other firms, have been focusing on pricing this last year. Something that wasn’t an art or a science five years ago is now taking huge amounts of time, thought and effort today. It is still an overcrowded marketplace; we still have too many law firms and too many lawyers.
‘We are seeing some real pressure around how we price jobs. It is still an overcrowded market; we have too many law firms and too many lawyers.’
Jonathan Blair, Bond Dickinson
What impact will Brexit have on the mid-market?
Blair: It will accelerate people’s thinking. The sector was moving into a mindset where we had moved out of the immediate and medium-term crisis period post-Lehman and the sector was finding its new normal. People were feeling quite comfortable and when they are feeling comfortable it is more difficult to strategically push through the rationale for a merger. This financial year is going to be interesting; it is going to be challenging for many. I would expect consolidation to become more of a topic.
Do you think we will see mass relocation of clients to other European cities as a result of Brexit?
Blair: The UK is going to remain open for business. There will be some pull into Dublin, Paris and Frankfurt but there are some very big practical obstacles that any large corporate which is looking to pull out of London is going to have to overcome. London is the largest financial centre in the world. In terms of currency trades, it trades $2trn a day, every single day. Paris and Frankfurt have the language barriers. Clients may move to Dublin but the biggest issue with Dublin is the headcount, the access to talent. London and the UK has a ready marketplace for that.