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Australia’s Slater & Gordon, the world’s first publicly traded law firm, reported a 22.4% increase in net profit for the six months leading up to December 31st 2008.
The 160-lawyer firm reported profits of $8.46 million, up from $6.9 million for the previous six-month period. S&G’s revenue increased 35% to $50.5 million over the same time frame.
The firm is looking at acquisition opportunities, and expects earnings to rise into the second half of 2009.
S&G went public in Australia in May 2007. The IPO was the first for a law firm, after new legislation went into effect Down Under permitting the investment of non-lawyers. With a similar law to be enacted in the UK in 2011, S&G’s listing drew the interest of many British firms.
It’s highly unlikely that the US legal industry, governed by a hodgepodge of state laws and federal regulations, will adopt anything similar involving public ownership.
Slater & Gordon has acquired nine other firms within the past year, most recently scooping up the personal injury practice of Brisbane firm Carter Capner.
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Slater & Gordon, founded in Melbourne in 1935 by William Slater & Hugh Gordon, is an Australian plaintiff law firm employing over 600 people across Australia.
