Simmons & Simmons has reappointed managing partner Mark Dawkins to lead the firm for a further three years, a period in which he has stated the firm must improve its corporate offering and outstrip its peer group’s financial performance.
Dawkins was reappointed as managing partner on Monday (28 January) following an uncontested election process that kicked off at the end of November. He will begin his second term on 1 May.
The process was overseen by Simmons senior partner David Dickinson, who led a nomination committee garnering partnership opinion. As Dickinson is serving a five-year term, the reappointment of Dawkins means both the managing and senior partner roles will come up for re-election in 2011, although Dawkins will be unable to stand again as he will have already served the maximum of two terms.
The management team spoke exclusively to Legal Week on the news. Dickinson commented: “We have an extended selection process but it became clear early on that the partners were keen for [Dawkins] to stand for a second term. He has proved a popular leader and we are pleased to see him continue.”
Dawkins was widely expected to continue leading Simmons for a second term, having gained support from within the partnership after three years of steady increases in turnover and partner profits. He is also credited with settling the City firm during his first three-year stint, after a turbulent period which saw a number of partners leave.
Initial indications are that Dawkins and Dickinson intend to steer Simmons towards the top end of Europe’s transactional market rather than explicitly building on the firm’s commercial strengths or further cultivating Simmons’ lifestyle credentials.
The firm’s finance practice is currently its most profitable. However, Dawkins has singled out corporate as a priority during his second term, and is keen to secure roles on more of the high-end deals in the UK market, where Simmons has lagged behind rivals in recent years.
Recent deals the firm has been involved in include advising Royal London Mutual Insurance Society on Pearl Assurance’s £5bn offer for Resolution in October and Telefonica’s £2bn sale of emergency services network Airwave to Guardian Digital Communications last April. The firm landed one of its largest ever M&A mandates in 2005 when it led on Telefonica’s £17.7bn takeover of UK mobile company O2.
Dawkins said: “While we have done well over the past 18 months, we certainly need a larger footprint in the UK market. I want to concentrate on getting a larger number of bigger-end deals.”
In contrast, Simmons’ well-regarded finance practice is unlikely to experience significant growth during Dawkins’ second term, although the firm does intend to grow its bank lending and energy finance groups.
Dawkins’ most noteworthy pledge for his second term has been to radically improve the firm’s financial performance, which has already seen a noticeable recovery in recent years. In the last three financial years Simmons has enjoyed double-digit rises in both revenue and average profits per equity partner (PEP). This followed three successive years of profit drops. Last year, the firm broke the £500,000 PEP barrier for the first time, posting a 13% increase to reach £530,000.
Dawkins has now vowed to increase the latest figures. The top 10 City firm is attempting to hit a PEP figure of £600,000 for this financial year, and is in the process of setting what it says are ‘ambitious’ goals for 2008-09.
Dawkins said: “For the next three years we have to capitalise on the last three. We need to have faster revenue growth than our competitors. It has been a benign legal market and most major firms have had good revenue growth; we need to be better.”
As part of its drive to push up profitability, the firm overhauled its international practice groups, making each individual practice financially accountable on an international basis. The firm’s international offices accounted for 47% of its £250.6m revenue last year.
Dawkins is now turning his attention to the firm’s German operation, which he concedes suffers from “critical mass issues”. He is also looking to build in Dubai as well as continuing to rebuild in Hong Kong, following departures from the corporate team to the local office of Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker.
The firm has also agreed a merger with Madrid-based Mochales & Palacios, as well as launching in Moscow at the end of last year. The firm said it has no immediate plans to move into the US market.
Last summer, the firm changed the make-up of its management board to allocate an equal number of London and international partners to the board.
Dawkins said: “The balance in the firm has shifted. We are becoming increasingly international. London is our heart, but almost half of our revenue now comes from outside London and we need to recognise that.”
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