Cadwalader first US firm to post faltering figures

Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft has posted a 6 per cent fall in average profit per equity partner (PEP) for the 2007 financial year, making it the only US firm so far to report a decrease in bottom line figures.

Cadwalader’s PEP dropped from $2.9m (£1.48m) in 2006 to $2.72m (£1.37m) last year. Revenue per lawyer was down by an even greater percentage, falling 10 per cent from $1m (£500,000) to $910,000 (£455,000).

Other figures released today by Cadwalader show that total revenue rose 5.5 per cent to $587m (£299m) but net profit dropped 6 per cent, from $220.5m (£110.2m) to $207m (£105m). A similar number of full equity partners to 2006, 76, shared this pool last year.

The results follow Cadwalader’s move last month to lay off 35 lawyers in the US, when it blamed “unexpected and persistent volatility” in the financial markets.

All the lawyers worked in the firm’s structured finance and capital markets groups. The layoffs were subsequently followed by a round of support staff cuts.

Cadwalader did not comment on the results.