Paul Jenkins-Article-201607140934 (1)Even opponents to using profit per equity partner (PEP) as a measure of law firm success would struggle to contend that a firm posting a 19% year-on-year fall in profit was in anything other than a challenging position.

In fairness to Ashurst, it hasn’t tried to spin its 2015-16 results. As Legal Week reported on 7 July,  PEP has fallen back to a more than 10-year low of £603,000 after two consecutive years of decline, while revenue fell by 10%.