Posted on

Case study: Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

By some margin the strongest-performing Magic Circle firm for the 2015/16 year, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer posted 7% revenue growth from £1.245bn to £1.327bn and an 8% profit per equity partner (PEP) hike to £1.47m from £1.37m.

This performance is particularly impressive after a year of investment. The firm pushed hard on the development of its legal services hub in 2015, gaining the lease to its Manchester office in July last year. Rapidly scaled up, Freshfields’ Manchester staff will move into new premises double the size of the current office from early 2017, accommodating legal services staff as well as human resources, IT, marketing and business development, office management, document specialists and change management. Plans are already underway to open a second legal services hub in either the US or Canada to offer a 24-hour service to clients. Continue reading “Case study: Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer”

Posted on

Case study: Berwin Leighton Paisner

Had merger talks earlier this year with Miami-based Global 100 firm, Greenberg Traurig, been successful, Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) would now be part of a £1.1bn firm and a £5m fall in revenue would look like a drop in the ocean. As it is, BLP’s strategy is under scrutiny again with its recent revival looking short-lived.

Revenue fell 2% at BLP in 2015/16 to £254m, while profit per equity partner (PEP) was more positive with 4% growth to £687,000. This is in sharp contrast to the rapid growth of the previous financial year, when revenue rose 5% to hit a record £259m and PEP surged 22% to £661,000. Continue reading “Case study: Berwin Leighton Paisner”

Posted on

Case study: Mishcon de Reya

The standout performer from this year’s second 25 is once again Mishcon de Reya which, along with Macfarlanes, has been the pace setter in this peer group over the last five years. The firm has come a long way since it first made its debut into the top 50 four years ago in 2012. Over five years, revenue has climbed more than 100% from £65m.

Mishcon revealed robust profits for the 2015/16 financial year, with profit per equity partner (PEP) up 11% to £1m as global revenue grew to £132.7m from £116.7m, an increase of 14%. The firm did, however, this year downsize its Manhattan practice to focus on IP. As such, New York revenue came in at £4.8m, a considerable drop given the business in recent years generated upwards of £13m.

Continue reading “Case study: Mishcon de Reya”

Posted on

Case study: TLT

‘We want to be a top 50 law firm. We have the trappings, but we’re not quite there yet.’ So said TLT managing partner David Pester to Legal Business three years ago. This year that ambition has been realised, with the Bristol-based law firm entering the top 50 for the first time.

TLT continued its strong growth trajectory in 2015/16, posting a 15% increase in turnover to £71.6m while profit per equity partner (PEP) was up 10% to £253,000. Overall, the firm has grown in turnover 65% from £43.3m over the last five years, particularly impressive considering the firm’s place in the squeezed national mid-market.

Continue reading “Case study: TLT”

Posted on

Case study: Bond Dickinson

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.’

Continue reading “Case study: Bond Dickinson”

Posted on

Going long: a ten-year view of the LB100

While headline figures for revenue, profit and headcount in this year’s LB100 confirm another year of subdued trading, a look at how the top 100 UK-based firms by revenue have performed overall since the halcyon, pre-credit crisis days of 2006 makes interesting viewing. Not least as they are testament to the inherent strength of the industry, despite the hurdles it has seemingly faced in ten years. We also look at 2011 as a five-year mid-point, the stage when the global financial crisis had started to ebb. Continue reading “Going long: a ten-year view of the LB100”

Posted on

In-house life: James Ratcliffe, art loss register

James Ratcliffe has a curious job – one in which art, argument and puzzle-solving come together across global jurisdictions to meet at the crux of the international luxury art market. Ratcliffe, who has a background in archaeology and commercial litigation, is general counsel and director of recovery at the Art Loss Register (ALR), a London-based private company that holds the world’s largest private database of lost and stolen art. Mired in criminality, old money, loss and recovery, this is a job made for the movies. Continue reading “In-house life: James Ratcliffe, art loss register”

Posted on

GC Powerlist: Italy

Since the advent of the global financial crisis back in 2008, the emphasis in Europe has been on repairing those economies worst hit. During this period, some states have felt the impact of the economic crisis worse than others and the priority for those has been initiating reforms designed to stimulate their domestic economies, while putting the single market back on the path to prosperity.

Continue reading “GC Powerlist: Italy”

Posted on

Tracking change for in-house legal departments

‘Corporate law departments are under enormous pressure to change. The business has higher expectations than it once did, and law departments must manage more and riskier legal and compliance work,’ explains Jason Heinrich, partner at Bain & Company’s Chicago office and a leader in both performance improvement and legal and compliance operations.

Continue reading “Tracking change for in-house legal departments”

Posted on

Sailing the wind of change: leading the in-house legal function into a world of acceleration

Until 2003, when the Geneva-based sailing syndicate established by Ernesto Bertarelli won the America’s Cup, landlocked Switzerland and the Swiss had not been considered part of the leading seafaring nations. The very fact that the sail-boat Alinghi has won the Auld Mug twice is a great example of how things can change, and that new players from non-traditional backgrounds can enter and re-define any given playing field.

Continue reading “Sailing the wind of change: leading the in-house legal function into a world of acceleration”