Legal Business

Leadership: Watson Farley managing partner Michael Greville stands down

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Leadership Watson Farley and Williams
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Watson, Farley & Williams (WFW) has announced that longstanding managing partner Michael Greville has stepped down from his role as managing partner, according to a statement released today (28 November).

Having been in the role for over 12 years, Greville will step down as chief in the middle of January 2014 and resume a fee-earning role, focusing on shipping, oil & gas, and energy sectors.

An election to succeed Greville is currently underway with Chris Lowe (head of the firm’s global maritime practice and former head of the Singapore office) and Lothar Wegener (head of WFW’s German offices) as coming forward as candidates to replace Greville as joint managing partners. That dual appointment is expected to be approved in the coming weeks, the firm said.

Greville said: ‘WFW is an excellent firm with a clear strategic focus and established market positions. We have come through the worst of the economic times in good shape. The firm is well set to have a good year and this is an appropriate time for me to hand over the reins and move on to the next stage of my career.’

Indeed, Greville has presided over some impressive financial growth during his tenure, with revenues rising 73% in the last five years alone, from £59m in 2008 to £102.1m in 2013. However, the story has not been as good profits-wise lately, with a 14% drop in profits per equity partner for the 2012/13 financial year to £384,000, while profit per lawyer overall was down 24% to £62,000.

Chairman Frank Dunne said: ‘Our partners want to thank Michael for all he has done over many years in building a strong platform for growth across our firm. We look forward to welcoming a new team to lead the business and develop its distinctive strategy and character.’

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Redundancy woes: Bond Dickinson and Watson Farley are latest major law firms to review support staff roles

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Job cuts Watson Farley and WilliamsWomble Bond Dickinson
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Redundancy consultations continue to dog the City’s top 100 firms as Bond Dickinson and Watson, Farley & Williams last month became the latest to reveal they have placed a number of support roles under review.

In August, Bond Dickinson began a consultation process that will see up to 7% of its support staff made redundant. The newly-merged 700-lawyer firm – a combination of Newcastle-based Dickinson Dees and Bristol-headquartered Bond Pearce that went live on 1 May – said it intends to ‘discuss a proposal to review the support teams and how they should be shaped to best support the needs of Bond Dickinson’.

It added that ‘the proposals, if accepted, would see approximately 7% of support staff roles being made redundant and voluntary redundancy enhancements have been offered to all affected staff’.

Legal Business

Redundancy 2013: Watson Farley latest top 40 firm to review secretarial jobs

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Job cuts Watson Farley and Williams
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With 2013 offering all the dubious promise of being the toughest legal labour market since 2013, Watson, Farley & Williams has become the latest top 40 firm to announce it is to review its secretarial support function in its London office.

A firm spokesperson said: ‘Secretaries in WFW’s London office were recently advised that a review of our secretarial support function will be taking place over the next five weeks, following which the team may be restructured if required.

‘This aims to ensure that we have highly skilled and specialised roles that meet the needs of our fee earners.’

The firm would not comment further on the review, first revealed by RollOnFriday, or confirm the number of roles that may be affected.

Watson Farley this year broke through the £100m revenue barrier, announcing an increase of 2% to £102.1m compared to last year’s £99.8m. However, this increase is significantly below average when compared with its revenue growth of 73% over the past five years. PEP has also dropped by 13% to £388,000 from £446,000 in 2012.

The 339-lawyer firm said the rise in revenue and drop in profit was due to a period of heavy investment, including its Hong Kong launch in March 2012 followed by an opening in Frankfurt in January of this year, as well as the six lateral partner hires the firm made last year.

WFW joins a long list of UK practices to announce redundancy reviews in recent months including Hill Dickinson, DWF, Berwin Leighton Paisner and Osborne Clarke.

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

UK financial roll call: Wragge & Co, Hill Dicks, Watson Farley and Trowers reveal 2012/13 numbers

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Financial results 2012/13 Gowling WLGHill DickinsonWatson Farley and Williams
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The UK top 100 financial roll call has seen Wragge & Co, Watson, Farley & Williams, Trowers & Hamlins and Hill Dickinson unveil their financial results for 2012/13, with a number suffering a significant dent in their profit figures.

Watson Farley broke through the £100m revenue barrier, reporting a firm-wide increase of 2% to £102.1m, up on last year’s £99.8m. However, PEP has dropped by 13% to £388,000 from £446,000 in 2012.

The 339-lawyer firm attributed both the rise in revenue and the drop in profit to its Hong Kong launch in March 2012 followed by an opening in Frankfurt in January of this year, together with the six lateral partner hires the firm made last year.

Watson Farley managing partner Michael Greville said: ‘We are confident that these investments driven by client demand will generate sustained growth for the business. A strong pipeline of work coming in across all of our offices already bodes well for 2013.’

Elsewhere, top 30 Birmingham headquartered Wragge & Co today announced an increase in both profit and turnover – the only one of the four firms to do so. Turnover was up by 2% to £120.5m and PEP rose by 3% to £339,000, with overall profit at the firm up by 5.5% from £38.1m to £40.2m.

At 332-lawyer firm Trowers & Hamlin, however, global net profit slid by 21% from 20.1m in 2011/12 to 15.8m this year, with PEP down to £307,000 and revenue down to £78.3m. Property contributed to 43% of the firm’s revenue, followed by corporate (30%), litigation (18%) finance (6%) and the remainder spread across other practice areas.

The UK top 50 firm’s equity spread this year ranges from £165,000 at its lowest to £412,000 at its highest, down from £198,000 to £496,000 in 2011/12, while the number of partner globally is down from 56 to 52.

Also suffering a significant drop in PEP is top 30 UK firm Hill Dickinson, which saw its figure decrease by 15% to £264,000 from £312,000 in 2011/12, although revenues increased to £112.8m, up 2% on last year’s £110.1m.

Managing partner Peter Jackson has pointed to increased overheads and international expansion for the firm’s slump in profitability, including its launch in February this year of an office in Monte Carlo to boost its yacht and shipping practices.

jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Out of the shadows

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Watson Farley and Williams
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Michael Greville is the leader of Watson, Farley & Williams, an under-the-radar UK mid-market firm that has been going through an identity crisis. The last few years have seen merger talks aplenty – both transatlantic and domestic – but organic growth is now firmly on the agenda

Some law firms have the ability to hog the media spotlight with a mere stub of a press release – think PR-savvy brands like DLA Piper and Eversheds. Other City stalwarts pride themselves on following a deliberately low-profile path, to the extent that by looking at its website you would never know that Slaughter and May even has a PR function.