Howrey hit by 17.5% tumble in profits

US firm Howrey has become the second major US firm to post disappointing financial results for last year, with the intellectual property specialist suffering a double-digit drop in profits per equity partner (PEP).

PEP dropped to $1.01m (£516,000) in 2007 - a fall of 17.5% from last year's figure of $1.22m (£623,000).

Revenue, meanwhile, grew by a modest 4% over the 12-month period, inching up from $457.1m (£233.3m) last year to a new mark of $475.2m (£242.6m). Revenue per lawyer came in at was at $753,000 (£382,500).

Howrey - which has hired a number of partners in Europe over the last 12 months and made its Spanish debut at the start of the year after taking over local boutique Martinez Lage & Asociados - becomes just the second major US firm to see profits dip in 2007.

Chairman Robert Ruyak said the firm had performed well against its targeted budget for the year, commenting: "Some law firms borrow money to invest [but] that is not how we work. Every time we invest, PEP is down but we have to invest to grow. Thus you will see our results go up and down."

Earlier this month New York leader Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft confirmed that PEP had dropped by 6% over the last year to $2.72m (£1.38m).

News of Howrey's performance comes on the same day that Dorsey & Whitney unveiled record financial growth for 2007, with PEP improving by almost a third (30%) to $672,000 (£343,000), as revenue improved by 11%.

Other US firms to post double-digit increases in fee income include Morgan Lewis & Bockius, which achieved a 12% increase in turnover to $1.03bn (£525m); New York's Paul Weiss Rifkind Garrison & Wharton, which registered a 10% hike in fees; and West Coast giant Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe, which notched up a 16% rise.

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