LLP filings show nearly 400 partners left UK top 20 firms in 2009

CC tops rankings with 81 partners leaving in 2009; Eversheds follows with 50 departures

The UK’s top 20 law firms have seen nearly 400 partners leave since the beginning of 2009, with Clifford Chance (CC), Eversheds and Allen & Overy (A&O) topping the departure rankings.

Limited liability partnership (LLP) filings with Companies House show that 384 partners have left the UK’s largest 20 firms by revenue since 1 January – in a year in which many firms have been actively restructuring their partnerships and managing out partners. This figure rises to 496 including partners resigning from the LLP but remaining with the firms as consultants or offices outside the LLP.

Of the 384 exits, the majority have left since the start of the 2009-10 financial year, with 313 partner departures taking place on or after 1 May.

CC, which announced a large-scale partner restructuring capped at 15% of its partnership, has seen 81 partners leave the firm since January, with the bulk of the departures (79) occurring since the start of the current financial year on 1 May. A&O’s restructuring contributed in some part to the 45 departures since January. At the end of the last financial year the firms had 637 and 486 partners respectively.

As reported by Legal Week last month (26 November), Eversheds has also seen a large number of partner departures since the start of the calendar year, with its filings showing that 50 partners have left since January. DLA Piper, meanwhile, has seen 39 partner exits since the start of 2009. 

The figures reflect the size of the firms’ respective partnerships, with the top 10 UK firms seeing 268 exits, against 116 within the second half of the top 20. Firms bucking this trend include Addleshaw Goddard, which asked 19 partners to leave in January, on 25 exits; SJ Berwin on 18 partner exits; Ashurst; and Pinsent Masons.

The figures exclude those cases where partners have exited the LLP but remained with the firm in some other capacity – either as a partner within an office that is not part of the LLP or as a consultant.