Summary: With several new additions to the law firm, their revenue may be down but they are growing bigger than ever.
Law firm Baker & McKenzie is losing steam fast. They lost their position as the largest-grossing law firm in the world to Latham & Watkins. Now the firm has fallen behind DLA Piper as well after Baker & McKenzie announced declines in their revenue and profit numbers.
For the past three years, DLA Piper and Baker & McKenzie have been switching places at the top of The American Lawyer’s Global 100. The survey is published every October and will once again show that the firm’s have switched places.
Global chair of Bake & McKenzie, Eduardo Leite, blames the results on exchange rates since they convert the 35 different currencies they collect into American. He claims that the firm’s revenue actually grew 2.2 percent and was up 5 percent for an all-time high during the last fiscal year.
Leite explained “It was actually a strong year in many respects, but we suffered a lot because of currency fluctuations. Some currencies devalued over the year by 50 percent – that had a tremendous impact. Our Latin America practice had double-digit growth in revenue in local currency, but recorded a decline in U.S. dollars.”
The firm’s numbers were also impacted by several large investments into new programs and offices. The firm opened offices in Brisbane and Jeddah as well as created a global services center in Belfast. The firm has also brought on 51 new lateral partners and promoted 83 partners internally. Their total global partnership is now at 1,500.
Source: http://www.americanlawyer.com/id=1202735365541/
Photo: thetimes.co.uk