Burges Salmon

UK 200 RESULTS 2010

For a firm characterised by its small ‘c’ conservatism, 2009-10 was a relatively tumultuous year at Burges Salmon. There were two new managing partner appointments, a new management structure and a firmwide strategy to bed down. This plus a move to new offices all within the past 18 months.

After longstanding managing partner Guy Stobart stood down in May 2009, his replacement Chris Jackson lasted just seven months before returning to full-time fee-earning, handing the reins to Peter Morris.

Morris has since overseen the firm’s move to its new Temple Quays home and a strategy rethink that has seen it focus on its core industry sectors.

The relocation was fully funded by partners in a capitalisation process going back five years.

In terms of practice areas, the firm remains weighted towards corporate and litigation, with a sizeable property arm also pitching in. Given the failure of mainstream corporate or real estate to bounce back, the firm’s relatively consistent performance reflects a good year.

Turnover was down by 5.8 per cent to £60.7m, a similar fall to that posted in 2008-09. Average profit per equity partner nudged up from £409,000 to £414,000.

With a healthy stable of property management clients, rather than investors, the real estate department managed to hold its own. In corporate, work for unquoted companies continued to be a rich seam.

Burges Salmon still operates a pure lockstep system. Once partners join the equity on 450 points they move up 78.6 points per year for seven years until plateauing at 1,000 points.

UK 200 RESULTS 2009

Burges Salmon likes to think of itself as the Slaughter and May of the South West’, which says a lot about the traditional values – and reputation – of this Bristol-headquartered firm.

Under the leadership of managing partner Guy Stobart, whose final year in charge came in 2008-09, the firm has grown steadily with this conservative strategy.

But the pace of change has already accelerated under new managing partner Chris Jackson, who started his term in May 2009.

Jackson has split the management committee in two, separating the executive committee from the heads of department. He has also laid out a new strategy, with a renewed focus on Burges Salmon’s strongest areas of expertise: energy and transport, defence and infrastructure, food and farming and mid-tier financial services.

Jackson was right to do so. In some sectors Burges Salmon is among the top firms in the country but it cannot compete with larger London firms on all fronts. A move to glittering new headquarters at Temple Quay in the summer of 2010 will, it hopes, complete a dynamic new image.

That said, 2008-09 was a tough year. Turnover fell 6 per cent to £64.2m because of a tougher market for the firm’s core corporate and projects practices. As a result there were two sets of redundancies, leading to more than 40 job losses, which took its toll on profitability. Nevertheless, despite PEP falling nearly a quarter to £409,000, the firm remained the most profitable in the South West.

Burges Salmon introduced a new career path in 2008. The legal director role, designed as an alternative to partnership, was taken up by one associate.

Otherwise, the firm’s classic lockstep remains unaltered. New partners start on a fixed-share rung for two to four years before joining the equity.

Equity points run from 450 to 1,000, with partners automatically moving up by 78.6 points a year for seven years.