Clarke Willmott

UK 200 RESULTS 2010

Total revenue at Clarke Willmott dropped by 14 per cent last year, with the property group particularly affected. That department saw fee income slide from £11.3m to £6.9m and its contribution to overall income decrease from 24 per cent to 17 per cent.

As a result Clarke Willmott made a number of redundancies and several senior staff members have also left the firm, including finance director Neil Munn and HR head Joanna Parker. It also took the decision to outsource secretarial work from its Birmingham head office to South Africa through an agreement with business process outsourcer Exigent, resulting in job losses. Year-on-year the firm had on average 17 per cent fewer staff and partners than it did in 2008-09.

Having taken on 15,000sq ft of office space in central Birmingham in 2006 on a 16-year lease with a view to establishing its headquarters in that city, it has now put half of that space on the market.

The firm also implemented changes to its management structure. Chairman Stephen Rosser became chief executive following the 11-year tenure of David Sedgwick, who became senior partner. Rosser also established a board to develop and deliver a new strategy.

Clarke Willmott operates an entirely merit-based remuneration system and has three classes of partner – salaried, prior share and full equity. The equity spread contracted last year, with those at the top taking home 20 per cent less than in 2008-09.

UK 200 RESULTS 2009

Clarke Willmott saw its revenue drop by 11 per cent, from £53.2m to £47.2m, and average profit per equity partner (PEP) fall by 38.5 per cent, from £317,000 to £195,000 last year. Net profit stood at £6.4m, down from £10.7m.

The firm was one of the first to make redundancies, with eight partners in total leaving.

The firm’s property group, strongly skewed towards housebuilders and general residential development, accounted for the biggest drop, which made its way right to the bottom line. It was down by £3m to £11.3m in just one year.

Also affected was the volume business, where the firm lost a number of debt contracts after some clients’ decisions to take that work in-house, which brought the total revenue down by some £600,000.

Corporate and commercial, which accounts for some £8m in revenue, was hit less badly, with total billings dipping by just £500,000 from last year.

Litigation remains a cornerstone of Clarke Willmott’s practice. It represents 34 per cent of total billings, or £16m, and was up by £700,000 on last year’s total.

Over the past two years Clarke Willmott has made efforts to diversify its geographical focus away from the South West. Its original base in Taunton remains the engine room of the private client team, which had a successful year, with billings up by 13 per cent. Bristol remains the biggest office with some 30 partners, but Birmingham has become the key focus for the firm in recent times. Now at 15 partners, it handles a mix of property, private client, employment and insolvency.

The basic structure of the partnership has not changed appreciably, with the non-equity/equity partner ratio at around 40-60. Last year the number of equity partners remained exactly the same at 33.

Non-equity partners are known as prior share partners and have a guaranteed number of points individually. Equity partners start off at 25 points and then get performance points allocated on a yearly basis. The spread last year was £129,000 to £369,000.