Baker & McKenzie’s London arm sees profits fall by eight per cent
OPERATING profit at City law firm Baker & McKenzie’s London arm fell by eight per cent in 2011 despite an increase in turnover.
The firm’s LLP accounts, filed at Companies House last week, show that operating profit at the firm dropped to £41.7m in the year to 30 June 2011 from £45.4m the previous year, while London revenues increased from £119m to £122m.
Bakers posted a global rise in both gross revenues and profits of seven per cent for the 2012-11 year last August – the first time that both figures had increased since 2008.
The latest accounts show that employee costs for the year rose to £45.9m from £44.4m last year – an increase of almost four per cent – while overall headcount nudged up from 592 to 600.
Of the overall figure, £39.5m was attributed to wages, while £276,000 went on redundancy costs.
Over the whole year, the average number of partners sharing the firm’s equity pot was 80 – up from an average of 78 last year.
The highest-earning partner in London made £872,000, a 15 per cent fall from 2010 when the figure was just over £1m.
Bakers’ London office is its largest worldwide, and employs around 10 per cent of the firm’s total workforce.
Last week, the group opened its new office in Turkey, as part of an exclusive alliance with local Turkish law firm Esin Attorney Partnership.