On the top 50:
“There were no great surprises. The real test for mid-tier firms is what will happen now. How flexible and adaptable will they be? We are all fighting for our share of a smaller supply of work. Given market conditions, it is more about flexibility than size. But the
On litigation:
“Litigation is a big practice area right now. There is an increase in regulatory investgations and company investigations. They are busy areas at this stage in a downturn.”
On Freshfields:
“The key feature last year was that things were strong across the board. There was a good performance in
David Morley, senior partner, Allen & Overy
On the outlook:
“My sense is that litigation has not come to the level that it did during the dotcom boom. We are not seeing the same levels of litigation that came roaring in then. But we are thinking onwards and upwards. We have a clear strategy geographically and for our clients. If there is a downturn you have to react, you have to keep long-term goals in balance. From our point of view, we are not profits per equity partner (PEP) obsessed — we don’t share that with our competitors.”
On Allen & Overy:
“We are feeling pretty good about the year — 15% growth in revenue is not bad, given we went through nine months of the credit crunch.”
David Childs, managing partner, Clifford Chance
On the market:
“What has been different about this downturn is banks and the real estate market have been affected rather than corporates. There is more litigation, but we are not seeing a wall of it. ”
On Clifford Chance:
“We have had a very good year. It was successful for revenues and profits, given last year’s market conditions. We are very pleased to see profits overtake principal
Simon Bromwich, managing partner, Ashurst
On the current market:
“I am not sure many firms expected such a significant downturn and it is very difficult to predict what will happen next. It will certainly be tough to maintain the levels of profitability we saw this year.
On Ashurst:
“We expect a continuing growth in our international practice — Western Europe has performed excellently over the last 12 months and we are starting to see a return in the Middle East and
David Willis, managing partner, Herbert Smith
On the outlook:
“So far this year corporate is holding up very well, but you would expect less activity over the year. The state of the debt markets makes this a challenging environment for some areas of finance, although we are seeing an upturn in restructuring and insolvency work.”
On Herbert Smith:
“We are pleased that profitability moved in the right direction [in 2007-08]. It is difficult to get the balance between short-term profitability and longer-term success — we achieved that. Litigation and corporate have had very good years — your profits don’t go up by 25% if corporate isn’t pulling in the business.”
Quentin Poole, senior partner, Wragge & Co
On the top 50:
“The magic circle will feel a draft as there will not be anything like the kind of bigger profitable deals they have been seeing. However, they will mitigate that by enhancing their lower-end work and doing smaller deals and conducting a lot of international work. National firms will probably be OK through diversification and an ability to compete on price and costs base.”
On the outlook:
“Last year was remarkably smooth across the board. If a firm could not achieve a reasonable result as a top 30 firm then they will have a major problem this year, which will be more difficult as a lot of firms are predicting negative growth.”
Peter Crossley, managing partner, Hammonds
On the top 50:
“The magic circle have most probably put more clear blue water between them and the mid-market pack but whether this will continue, who knows? Generally speaking, national firms have done well although I don’t think they have done as well as the top firms.”
On the outlook:
“There is actually quite a lot of potential activity — especially in corporate — but there is uncertainty about whether the deals will go to plan and take place in the next 12 months. Real estate has been a tough year and will continue to be tough this year. Those strong in restructuring, insolvency and litigation could be fine. Firms heavy in corporate and real estate may struggle. The old cliche may be right. If you are diversified you can ride out the storm more easily.”
Richard Dedman, senior partner, Barlow Lyde & Gilbert
On the outlook:
“In instances like this the magic circle will drop down to do mid-market work to keep busy. But the squeeze is being felt by corporate firms and many are expecting a different year on the corporate and real estate sides. People are concerned about
On Barlows:
“It is encouraging because we had been through a flat period and the trend that came through the second half is also encouraging for us because we are seeing an increase in disputes work. The Far East did well for us —
Howard Morris, chief executive, Denton Wilde Sapte
On the outlook:
“Real estate lawyers will find it hard for the next year but my view is that the legal profession will cool off a bit. Profits are a question of sentiment — no-one wants to dilute PEP but firms have not invested in equity for a while.”
On Dentons:
“We were pleased with the results. We continue to make investments in people and it has paid off. We saw growth in all of the emerging markets and the energy sector — it is a sign of our clients rather than the market. We are pleased with the growth in our financial institutions practice and we have seen good real estate growth.”
David Gray, chief executive, Eversheds
On the outlook:
“Firms with a broad spread of practice areas, including litigation and an international base, will be best positioned for the coming year.”
On productivity:
“A key issue for firms is productivity of people and making sure they are kept busy either through chargeable hours or, at a time like this, secondments — where a firm can build on relationships they have.”
On partnership:
“The issue is about partner performance and matching performance and contribution. Every firm should be asking every person if they are taking out equal to what they are putting in. That should always be asked, but this market means there are fewer hiding places.”
Michael Frawley, managing partner, Taylor Wessing
On the outlook:
“People are reasonably confident moving into the next year. It will be a tough 12 months but if we maintain what we are doing, we will be happy. Most firms will expect to be at the same level. We haven’t seen a dramatic increase in litigation and insolvency and there may not be as much work as people are anticipating, but there is always a natural delay with law firms.”
Howard Culley, managing partner, Irwin Mitchell
On Irwin Mitchell:
“It was a steady year for us, we showed good growth.. Profits held up and we made steady, satisfactory progress. I hope this year will be the same. It’s very early days for this year but the results are holding up well.”
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UK Top 50 2007-08Have your say on all the end-of-year financials with the Legal Week Wiki results special.
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