Eversheds

UK 200 RESULTS 2010

Having made 735 job cuts during the recession and booked much of the cost in 2008-09, ­Eversheds was a much leaner and more profitable business in 2009-10. This had an impact on ­average profit per equity partner (PEP), which rose by a third.

That said, around 95 secretaries were made redundant during 2009-10 because the firm ­outsourced document production work to Exigent in South Africa, while 22 real estate lawyers also had their jobs up for review.

The firm has not yet managed to shake off the number of redundancies it made, nor the fact that many were paid just the statutory minimum in compensation.

Furthermore, one male associate who lost his job took Eversheds to court, successfully claiming unfair dismissal and sex discrimination against the firm. Eversheds was ordered to pay £123,000 in damages.

Eversheds’ reputation is as a mid-­market firm, but at its core it has some stellar practices. These include its public sector group, which has advised regional development agencies on the creation of some £400m worth of EU-financed funds, and the Ministry of Justice on the expansion of prisons.

On the private sector side of the business, ­Eversheds has acted for the trustees of a number of high-profile ­pension funds, including the New Airways Pension Scheme and the Airways Pension Scheme on a pension recovery deal with British Airways and the trustees of the Cable & Wireless Worldwide Retirement Plan.

Eversheds is also the proud possessor of a ­number of blue-chip clients, including Boeing, BAE ­Systems and Lloyds Banking Group.

But its failure to crack London’s high-end ­corporate and finance markets, despite some pretty hefty investment in its City operation, remains a frustration.

The firm’s equity is split into 17 bands. Fixed-share partners are distributed across five bands. They made between £135,000 and £250,000 and are eligible for a bonus worth up to 25 per cent of base earnings.

Equity partners have their bandings reviewed every two years and can be moved up or down by a maximum of two steps. No partner currently sits above band 15.

Further afield, Eversheds grew in Sweden through a merger and announced plans to send its first-ever secondee to Indian firm Khaitan & Co.

Strengths
Eversheds’ management is commercially focused, ambitious and has a reputation for innovative thinking. The firm improved profitability last year and appears to have learnt from past mistakes by offering enhanced redundancy packages to support staff whose jobs are on the line, rather than the bare minimum, while distributing a bonus of £1,000 to all non-partner staff.

Weaknesses
Eversheds handled its redundancies badly and, while it has sought to improve on that record, mud sticks. This means that, whenever it floats plans such as paying staff for business development ideas and piloting iPads for staff, it elicits a barrage of criticism. Equally, the firm’s strategy of targeting major corporates for the whole spectrum of their legal needs risks diluting the brand.

UK 200 RESULTS 2009

Eversheds’ revenue dropped by just over 6 per cent from £390m down to £365.9m during the 2008-09 financial year.

Average profit per equity partner (PEP) at the national firm fell more dramatically, down by 27 per cent to £404,000 from £552,000 in the previous financial year. Net profit saw a reduction of 22 per cent from £77.6m down to £60.5m last year.

Firm managing partner Lee Ranson said the financial results were to be expected given the downturn and that the firm had taken measures to reduce costs during the crisis.

Eversheds has had three rounds of redundancies, reducing its work force across its UK and international business by 618. Ranson confirmed that all the costs associated with the redundancies were accounted for in the past financial year.

Eversheds’ property group saw a total of 33 lawyers exit last year. Consequently its contribution to firm-wide revenue dropped from 24 per cent to 19 per cent, or from £93.6m to £69.52m.

Corporate and finance combined contributed 34 per cent for the second year running but due to the reduction in overall revenue this accounted for £124.4m last year compared with £133m during the 2007-08 financial year.

At the end of last year Eversheds introduced more stringent appraisal measures for fixed-share partners with aspirations of entering the firm’s equity. Eversheds will now hold regular appraisals for partners throughout the year in addition to annual performance development reviews.

Ranson said the move was to help clarify the route to equity partnership and give partners more understanding of partner development.

Despite the downturn the firm embarked on significant international expansion. In April this year Eversheds launched in Saudi Arabia forming an alliance with local firm Hani Al Qurashi Law.

The Asia practice saw the launch of two new offices in the space of two weeks, in Singapore and Hong Kong in February.

Closer to home Eversheds set up shop in Edinburgh in December hiring former McGrigors managing partner Colin Gray.