Major financial results were released last week by the BRW which shed light on the status of Australian companies following the purportedly dire economic times. Those results also gave a snapshot of how major Australian corporate firms are tracking.

pack up your belongings

Our suspicion that major Australian law firms were not suffering from GFC-induced revisions on the balance sheet appears very well founded. Call us socialists (as some of you have!), but we here at the Firm Spy consider annualised growth in revenue to be objectionable on the back of wide-spread redundancies, pay freezes and other cut-backs.

Corporate partners across the nation have happily adorned the heavy cloak of the ‘GFC’ to act with utter impunity, thereby engendering in employees anxiety and mistrust. All for a few dollars more!

Thanks to BRW for the following statistics:

09 Rank          08 Rank          Entity          Revenue          Change %          Employees         Change %

73                          78                    Mallesons           $552m             +1.5%                  1,842                 -5.1%

86                          99                    Minter Ellison      $493m              +4.7%                1,838                 -4.5%

86                          84                    Freehills               $493m              +0.2%                 1,754                -2.1%

89                          97                     Clayton Utz           $490m                +5%                    1,704               -1.2%

105                      111                     AAR                        $436m               +3.8%                n/a                     n/a

131                       135                    Blake Dawson       $370m              -0.3%                1,382                 -5.1%

Almost across the board, revenue is up and employee numbers are down.  Firms have cut overheads too. We have seen firms re-negotiate rental contracts or relocate into different premises, presumably under much more favorable terms. Remember the Mallesons Slop-Out? The Allens contract kerfuffle?

So with revenue up, overheads considerably lower and employee numbers down, partnership profit is up.

Yes, up on the boom times of 2008!

We intend to dissect these figures in greater detail later in the week. Stay tuned also for the Big4 and mid-tier report.

Send the Firm Spy your news and views!

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