Here Come The Numbers

As fiscal years start coming to a close, official revenue figures are starting to confirm everyone's expectations.

As reported at Am Law Daily (and discussed at Above The Law), Baker McKenzie's fiscal year ended on June 30th, and last year's 2nd highest revenue generating firm reported a 3% drop in global revenue and a 17% drop in profits per partner due to the recession.

"The financial crisis progressed into an economic recession that has been very challenging for our clients, for all law firms and for us,” says John Conroy, chairman of the firm’s executive committee.

To put Baker McKenzie's numbers in perspective, this is a firm whose fiscal year 2007 "reported profits per partner of $1.06 million, breaking the $1 million mark for the first time in the firm’s history. The firm reached another milestone in fiscal year 2008 when total revenues came in at $2.2 billion, surpassing the $2 billion barrier for the first time."

However, Baker McKenzie has also been a leader in terms of outsourcing legal work, and past year's numbers have been anchored by a global approach that encompasses more than 3,900 lawyers at 67 offices in 39 countries.

Given the squeeze in profit per partner this year, it won't be surprising to see an even greater emphasis on pushing work to more efficient cost centers.

And, while we can only speculate on how much worse Baker McKenzie's numbers would have been without their aggressive outsourcing stance, it will be interesting to see how comparable firms' numbers stack up as the year progresses.