It's been a grim week for the newly merged SNR Denton, with profits collapsing and partners jumping ship.
Results announced this week for the legacy firm Denton Wilde Sapte showed turnover falling by 8% to £154.4million for 2010/11. That translated to a 36% drop in profits per equity partner, from £360,000 to £232,000. OK, that's still hardly a charity case but, compared with the firm's peak of £470,000 in 2008, it's a pretty poor result.
Elliott Portnoy, the firm's Chief Executive, is currently in London to put his boot up the partners' collective arse. Well, that's for those partners who are still there at least. Two senior partners, Michael Black and Chris Borg, have just resigned for Reed Smith and Norton Rose. They follow Ian Roberts (who jumped ship to Pinsent Masons) and Rory McAlpine, head of advocacy, who left for Skadden (presumably quadrupling his pay overnight).
The firm is doing its best to stop the rot - Legal Week reports that partners may be held to a 12-month notice period. And it is putting a brave face on its current difficulties: a spokesman for the firm said that "we are budgeting for a substantial turnaround this year". Still, it's a lesson in the fact that transatlantic mergers are not necessarily an overnight solution...
Tip Off ROF
Results announced this week for the legacy firm Denton Wilde Sapte showed turnover falling by 8% to £154.4million for 2010/11. That translated to a 36% drop in profits per equity partner, from £360,000 to £232,000. OK, that's still hardly a charity case but, compared with the firm's peak of £470,000 in 2008, it's a pretty poor result.
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Required reading for all SNR Denton's London partners |
Elliott Portnoy, the firm's Chief Executive, is currently in London to put his boot up the partners' collective arse. Well, that's for those partners who are still there at least. Two senior partners, Michael Black and Chris Borg, have just resigned for Reed Smith and Norton Rose. They follow Ian Roberts (who jumped ship to Pinsent Masons) and Rory McAlpine, head of advocacy, who left for Skadden (presumably quadrupling his pay overnight).
The firm is doing its best to stop the rot - Legal Week reports that partners may be held to a 12-month notice period. And it is putting a brave face on its current difficulties: a spokesman for the firm said that "we are budgeting for a substantial turnaround this year". Still, it's a lesson in the fact that transatlantic mergers are not necessarily an overnight solution...