Blake Lapthorn
UK 200 RESULTS 2010
Movement since 2009
Turnover (£M):
Profit per equity partner (£K):
Earnings per partner (£K):
Equity spread (£K):
Net profit (£M):
Profit margin (%):
Revenue per fee-earner (£K):
Revenue per lawyer (£K):
Revenue per partner (£K):
Revenue per equity partner (£K):
Total number of fee-earners:
Total number of qualified lawyers:
Total number of partners:
Total number of equity partners:
Total number of female partners:
Total number of female equity partners:
Total number of staff:
Leverage ratio (fee-earners per equity partner):
SAME
45
116
113.86
99-140
5.9
13
128.6
187.5
445.5
882.4
350
240
101
51
23
12
597
3.71
After profitability fell through the floor in 2008-09, Blake Lapthorn spent much of 2009-10 trying to rebuild the bottom line. This included reorganising the equity with fewer partners and abandoning a lockstep structure in favour of a merit-based system.
In part those efforts have paid off, but there is still some way to go before the firm is back to 2007-08 levels.
Revenue slid by 6.4 per cent, from £47.9m to £45m, but underlying net profit was significantly up, from £4.4m to £5.9m, a rise of 34.1 per cent. This gave the firm’s 51 equity partners a much-needed boost, with average profit per equity partner (PEP) up by 78.5 per cent, from £65,000 to £116,000. Non-equity partners, meanwhile, picked up an average £112,000 in remuneration.
The firm’s equity spread narrowed from £100,000-£187,000 at the 2008-09 year-end to £99,000-£140,000. Compare that with 2007-08, when Blake Lapthorn posted a net profit of £9.6m, a PEP of £204,000 and an equity spread of £110,000-£210,000.
Blake Lapthorn is working hard at generating more work from individual clients while also looking for new panel seats to help boost the bottom line.
UK 200 RESULTS 2009
Movement since 2008
Turnover (£M):
Profit per equity partner (£K):
Earnings per partner (£K):
Equity spread (£K):
Net profit (£M):
Profit margin (%):
Revenue per fee-earner (£K):
Revenue per lawyer (£K):
Revenue per partner (£K):
Revenue per equity partner (£K):
Total number of fee-earners:
Total number of qualified lawyers:
Total number of partners:
Total number of equity partners:
Total number of female partners:
Total number of female equity partners:
Total number of staff:
Leverage ratio (fee-earners per equity partner):
DOWN
47.9
65
62.7
35 - 100
4.4
9
130
187
435
715
368
256
110
67
27
13
757
2.82
Blake Lapthorn’s profitability fell through the floor during the 2008-09 financial year. The firm abandoned its lockstep after its average profit per equity partner (PEP) fell by 68 per cent, from £204,000 to £65,000.
In a major overhaul of its partnership structure, the south-coast firm shed around a quarter of its equity partners and discarded its lockstep in favour of a merit-based system.
Its profitability fell to such an extent that at one point some of its associates were earning more than equity partners.
Equity partners will now be assessed once a year and awarded between five and 100 points. The firm previously operated a traditional lockstep, with partners progressing through five equity bands.
Managing partner Walter Cha said the changes were made to “recognise the uneven contributions within the partnership”.
The firm also shrank the equity at the end of the 2008-09 financial year. There are now 36 equity partners within a total partnership of 110, down from 48 at the end of April. Cha said the reduction was the result of a combination of deequitisation and partners leaving the firm.
At the end of the previous financial year Blake Lapthorn’s partners were toasting the success of an ambitious five-year expansion plan. Since merging with City firm Tarlo Lyons in 2006, turnover had risen by more than 50 per cent to £50.7m while PEP was at an all-time high of £204,000.
The firm’s plan back in 2003 was to establish the Blake Lapthorn brand in the South, the Thames Valley and Central London and, and through a series of mergers it seemed to have achieved that.
That was until the cracks started to show last year. The firm built up around £5m in bank debt during its expansion, including paying for new headquarters in Southampton.
In May 2008 equity partners were asked to put an extra £30,000 of capital into the firm and fixed-share partners an eye-watering £60,000. More was to follow in May 2009, when equity partners put in £100,000 and fixed-share partners another £60,000.
Blake Lapthorn is currently considering implementing flexible working in the form of a four-day week in a bid to drive down costs without cutting more jobs.
It has already been through two rounds of redundancies, which resulted in 53 people losing their jobs.
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