Cheer for SNR Denton partners as profits soar 48%
SNR Denton’s financial performance has seen a 'material improvement' after its 'disappointing' results last year, according to figures announced today. Unaudited results for the EMEA region report profits per equity partner of £350,000 - up 48% on last year, and pre-tax profits of £28m - a 38% increase over last year, on revenues of £145m.
Head count at the firm fell for partners, non-partner lawyers and business support staff. EMEA chief executive Matthew Jones said: ‘A significant element of the firms strategy focused on cost control and reduction.’
Managing partner Brandon Ransley said that litigation and arbitration had been ‘extremely busy and profitable'. He said the firm’s Milton Keynes office had seen a ‘significant increase’ in turnover and profitability.
Ransley said: ‘The EMEA region had a backdrop of severe economic challenges, which no aspect of the business or of our clients businesses had been immune from.’ He said activities in the Gulf were improving, while operations in Paris and Istanbul had seen reduced business, and would be looked at carefully.
Commenting on the results, Jones said: ‘It was clear that last year was a disappointing result for us. The new management team had clear objectives to improve the business, focusing on client services and efficiencies, and they have delivered on that.’
He said: ‘Our primary goal for the past year was to achieve a material improvement in our performance, while continuing to deliver excellent client service - and we accomplished that in the midst of a particularly challenging economic environment.’
‘We have successfully introduced greater efficiencies in our operations and our service delivery. We have also intensified our focus on integrating sector knowledge, geographic reach and service line expertise for the benefit of our clients and have continued to see increasing examples of the combination that created SNR Denton in 2010 enabling us to attract new clients, work and lateral recruits.’
Comments
What a bunch of total Bankers
Money! Money! Money! Money! Money! Money! Money! Money! and.......
More Money!
And........that's all folks.
Nice to know law is actually about something.
Why does the Gazette keep
Why does the Gazette keep subjecting us to this self-congratulatory nonsense? Good for them but do any of us care? Are we going to learn of profitability in all of the Legal 100 firms?
It's published to cheer up
It's published to cheer up High Street solicitors, and give us a feelgood factor.
More Good News!
I am pleased to announce that a High Street practice in Bermondsey has reported a record increase.
Sole Practitioner, Mrs S Solicitor said, "Obviously 2010/2011 was a tough year for the sector, particularly due to markets in Japan. However, we have managed to maximise flat-lining revenues, leverage efficiency and extract extraordinary potential from the unique circumstances of 2011/2012, and this has seen an upturn in growth of 6%."
She went on "Profits per equity partner, before tax and exceptional items, now stand at £22,613.57, split between one equity partner, mainly due to leveraged growth in client investments in marriage dissolution instruments, i.e. a few new divorces from the Mandela Way estate".
"We will note rest on our laurels, and the challenge for revenue capitalisation is an exciting one - this will be pushed forward by focussed growth on writing wills for our elderly clients".
Just make sure the elderly
Just make sure the elderly Client (I'll name him Bob) is extremely wealthy - a Lottery winner would be ideal, particularly if "Mrs S" could catch them before they even bank the Cheque! If "Mrs S" could throw in a rumour or two or even say whatever she wants to 'encourage' Bob to make a Will, all the better......no-one would find out with Client Confidentiality anyway. Maybe "Mrs S" could even escort Bob down the road to her favourite Bank so that she knows her money( oops, Freudian slip) I mean Bob's win is safely tucked away until later.
"Mrs S" would also need a Trust or two hidden up her sleeve; there's a particularly good one around at the moment called a Pilot Trust where those pesky little Beneficiaries don't even need to be named and as long as you have a pound coin (or is it a ten pound note) then Bob's your Uncle! "Mrs S" could even throw an Enduring Power of Attorney into the brew......... then drinks all round at Profit Reporting time particularly with the 'Divorce Partnership' which could be a bit of a coop.
It aint what you do it's the way that you bill it!
High Street firms can learn a lot from the billing approach of the top firms. For example:-
TOP FIRM IS INSTRUCTED TO DRAFT A WILL
1. Write to client informing him/her of hourly rate - £500 plus V.A.T. and asking him to complete Wills Questionaire.
2. Receive Wills questionaire from client, draft Will and send it to client.
Time billed: 2 hours
3. Client telephones solicitor and says he approves the draft but want advice about the Trust provisions in the Will regarding minors. Telephone attendance last 2 hours.
Time billed: 1.5 hours as half an hour of the conversation was about the recent performance of the England Cricket team.
4. Due the to the significant assets of the client a letter is sent to the client advising him that due to the complexity of his particular Will additional research will be required.
Time billed for letter: 10 minutes
Time billed for research: 2 hours
5. Revised draft of Will sent to client.
6. Client approves Will and arranging to visit office to sign it.
TOTAL BILLING TIME: 5 hours forty minutes at a billing rate of £500 per hour.
TOTAL BILL TO CLIENT: £2750 plus V.A.T. as decide not to charge for the 10 minutes.
HIGH STREET SOLICITOR IS ASKED TO DRAFT A WILL FOR A CLIENT
Fixed fee: £200 plus V.A.T.
WILL WRITING COMPANY IS ASKED TO DRAFT A WILL FOR CLIENT
Fixed fee: £100 plus V.A.T.
DIY WILLS PACK
Purchase price: £25 and you do the work for free, hopefully correctly.
POSTAL SERVICE BASIC DIY WILL if they still do them.
Purchase price: circa £7.50?
Useful for those who only have a couple of minutes left to write a will.
I do a bit of work on
I do a bit of work on challenging bills of costs, and what you say for the big firms is almost spot on, but you missed a couple of items.
1(a). Strategy meeting. A "partner led" team of four people discuss the instructions, and create a case file plan. 1 hour at £550, 1 hour at £500, 1 hour at £350 and 1 hour at £345.
1(b) Meeting hire. The strategy meeting booked Green Meeting Room 3b for 1 hour, at a cost of £175.
1(c) Document processing. The document processing provider charge 75 pence per sheet.
6(a) Post client meeting review. 18 minutes at £500
6(b) Client telephones to discuss bill. Get senior partner involved and charge £750 per hour for him plus £500 for original partner.
I, for one, am very grateful
I, for one, am very grateful to Paul Rogerson and his team on the LSG for the very welcome news on Dentons.
I've been worried sick about them for over 2 years...
Could these stories about the
Could these stories about the high earnings of city lawyers be fleshed out a bit? I'd welcome a sort of OK magazine treatment, with pictures of their houses, cars etc. A bit of glamour would lighten our load.