Geldards
UK 200 RESULTS 2010
Movement since 2009
Turnover (£M):
Revenue per fee-earner (£K):
Revenue per lawyer (£K):
Revenue per partner (£K):
Total number of fee-earners:
Total number of qualified lawyers:
Total number of partners:
Total number of female partners:
Total number of staff:
DOWN
20.5
141
190
387
145
108
53
14
261
One of Geldards’ best-known work focuses is public sector, a fact underlined by its groundbreaking joint venture with Kent County Council’s legal department. This was not enough to stop the firm posting a drop in revenue to £20.5m, sufficient to see it tumble out of the top 100.
The dearth of property work hit that group, which at 25 per cent is one of the firm’s largest practice areas; although employment, litigation and latterly corporate helped take up the slack. The property group itself is gradually shifting its emphasis from being a development-led practice to one focused on management and investment, anchored by clients such as Boots, Pizza Hut and Mountain Warehouse. Strategically the firm has recently been targeting growth in Nottingham with hires from Berryman and Eversheds.
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
22.5
228
160.0
130 - 227
5
22
136
174
450
1,023
166
129
50
22
13
2
298
4.86
Wales-headquartered Geldards had a disappointing year, with turnover falling from £24.5m to £22.5m in 2008-09.
Profit also took a tumble, with average profit per equity partner down from £285,000 to £228,000 last year. Managing partner Jeff Pearson put the fall down to the firm’s property department being hit particularly hard in the downturn.
Property makes up 32 per cent of Geldards' turnover the largest department in the firm. This is followed closely by litigation and corporate, which make up 27 and 22 per cent respectively.
Geldards managed to claw back some profit through a few star practice areas, including employment, where it was particularly strong on local authority work. Last year also saw the firm gain new clients including Boots and Pizza Hut.
Although Geldards managed to avoid a major redundancy programme last year, it did defer a handful of its trainees.
Geldards operates a managed lockstep remuneration system with a 10-step ladder.
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