Former Bevan Brittan chief exec calls time
Bevan Brittan’s former chief executive Stuart Whitfield has parted company with the firm less than a year after the partnership voted him out of the position.
Stuart Whitfield
Whitfield went on sabbatical in April and has since decided not to return, confirmed replacement chief executive Andrew Manning.
Whitfield was forced to stand down as chief executive in September 2008 after a four-partner committee tasked with devising a restructuring plan proposed that he be replaced. Chief operating officer Manning became the new CEO.
Whitfield’s reign came to an end after equity partners saw profit slide by 37 per cent to £6.05m in 2007-08 from £9.6m a year earlier.
At the 2008-09 year-end, following a restructure and 31 redundancies in the financial year, the firm reported a profit of £8.6m.
Bevan Brittan’s former Birmingham chief Sara Woffenden has also left the employment practice to take up a full-time judicial position, while commercial litigator Tom Ellis is set
to join Wragge & Co’s Birmingham office.
Readers' comments (1)
KRUSTY THE KLOWN | 1-Dec-2009 11:43 am
What makes me laugh when I read this is that not long ago (after having been badgered by a head hunters to go to this firm for an interview) I was staggered by the amateurish interview procedure and at the Dickensian career model being rolled out to prospective senior candidates.
The upshot was that they wanted senior PQE solicitors to go and work for them for peanuts in return for vague non-committal promises of advancement as an antidote to being passed over elsewhere.
It was all: "if the right candidate came along and profits reached a level where a case was made out we would be minded to consider whether promotion to partnership could be justified in the foreseeable future".
Given that I was not auditioning for a role in Forest Gump the Musical at the time I politely declined to be interviewed further pointing out that they needed to appreciate that such tired old formats were no lure for anyone who had not been a drug test guinea pig during Operation Desert Storm.
And this is the funny bit...when I said that their reaction was: "Please stay a little longer, we didn't explain our position properly. Our Chief Exec can explain it better".
I'll stick where I am thanks...at least they're honest about the lack of advancement
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