Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) has posted its second highest average profit per equity partner (PEP) ever at £683,000.
At the same time it emerged the firm was freezing all lawyer and staff salaries amid the fallout from the Brexit vote in June.
PEP increased by 3.6 per cent last year, from £659,000 to £683,000. The results signal a strong run at the firm after PEP plummeted by 38 per cent during the 2012/13 financial year. At the time BLP’s net profit fell by 38 per cent, from £63.6m to £39.4m. During the same year PEP fell from £660,000 to £401,000.
Since then PEP has continued to rise after increasing by 35 per cent to £542,000 in 2013/14.
BLP’s turnover fell by 1.9 per cent last year, from £259m to £254m. The firm’s net cash position now stands at £6m.
Managing partner Lisa Mayhew said: “These are a positive set of financial results. We’ve all worked hard to continue our upwards profitability trajectory, achieving our second highest PEP figure ever. We’re also particularly pleased to have ended another year with net positive cash. This is particularly impressive given the investments we’ve made, including Lawyer on Demand’s (LOD) acquisition of AdventBalance.”
Although PEP increase last year BLP has implemented a four-month pay freeze on its UK-based staff. The pay freeze has been put in place due to market uncertainty caused by the result of the EU referendum.
BLP’s usual salary review date is 1 July but this has been pushed back until 1 November 2016.
A BLP spokesperson said: “Following market uncertainties arising out of the recent EU referendum vote, BLP has decided that the responsible and prudent thing to do is to defer making UK salary decisions for a further four months. Employees who have been promoted will still receive related salary raises and bonuses referable to the prior financial year will also be paid.”
Litigation and corporate risk was BLP’s most profitable group globally with the firm’s global real estate department also achieving strong growth. Real estate disputes, real estate finance and asset finance have all seen “solid growth”.
The firm made a number of investments during the last financial year, including investing in agile working provider LOD’s merger with Australia-based AdventBalance. The merger means the firm will have over 600 lawyers and seven offices across London, Brisbane, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Perth, Singapore and Sydney.
Last year also saw BLP embark on a failed merger attempt with US giant Greenberg Traurig. The firm confirmed that it had entered into merger talks with Greenberg Traurig in February but by March talks had broken down.
At the time Mayhew told The Lawyer there was no single reason for ending the discussion and that both leadership teams were unable to “find enough common ground”.