Legal Business Blogs

LLP results 2012/13 – CC reveals drop in management committee pay as LG records further decline in turnover

Clifford Chance’s (CC’s) limited liability partnership accounts for the 2012/13 year have revealed a 5% drop in total remuneration paid to the firm’s management committee, according to the latest filings with Companies House.

Published on 23 December, the accounts show that the 16-strong management committee team received £18m this year, compared to £19m for the 2011/12 financial year.

Further figures from the report show that net assets attributable to members amounted to £219m; a decrease of £79m from the previous year, while net cash at the year-end stood at £103m, equating to a drop of £17m from the net cash figure as at 30 April 2012.

A geographical breakdown of firm revenue, which is recorded as £1,271m compared to £1,303m the previous year, illustrates that the firm’s UK offices netted the highest revenue, totalling £443m (unchanged since 2011/12) while its revenues in Continental Europe saw the greatest decline, down to £467m compared with £492m in 2011/12.

Revenue contributions from the Americas, Asia Pacific and the Middle East remained broadly static at £144m (£144m in 2012/11); £179m (£185m in 2011/12); and £38m (£39m in 2011/12) respectively.

Meanwhile, the average number of partners increased to 577 from 568, while the number of associates remained flat at 2,324.

The Magic Circle firm’s accounts further state that fees due from clients stand at £354m (compared with £330m in 2011/12) with £109m of those fees due to the UK offices, while less than 5% of billed revenue is attributable to a single client relationship.

The results comes as LLP accounts filed by Lawrence Graham, which recently secured a £170m tie-up with Midlands giant Wragge & Co to go live in May this year, show a greater drop in revenue for the 2012/13 financial year than previously reported.

Turnover fell 10% to £50.6m compared to £56m the previous year, while profit before members’ remuneration and profit shares decreased to £14.1m from £14.2m. In July, the firm posted a turnover drop of 8% to £51.8m and unveiled a 14% drop in profit per equity partner from £304,000 to £260,000.

Fees billed for the 2012/13 year also dropped to £50.2m compared to £54.2m in 2011/12, of which £49m is netted from the UK region.

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk