Tony Holland “Ruthless” as DLA Phillips Fox Partnership Shrinks 30% Before Merger

On 14 April 2010 we published the following allegation from an anonymous DLAPH spy:

Dutch being ruthless

Tony Holland was enticed from his position as deputy chairman at MSJ in 2008 by DLA Dubai (and ex-MSJ) partners. He was paid a fortune. Problem was, DLA Dubai had one client in Nakheel and was a sinking ship. The partners who brought Tony across have been sacked by DLA now. Tony saw the writing on the wall and got himself a plush job back in Melb as the new Phillips Fox Chairman. His game plan is to sever all ties with all Phillips Fox firms in Australia & New Zealand except Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. The rest can go jump!

After this, he wants to get rid of a heap of partners who are not in corporate or finance – ie turn Phillips Fox into another MSJ. Then, and only then, will Sir Nigel at DLA give the nod to the full merger. There are some very dodgey ex MSJ partners in Dubai and Abu Dhabi who have no clients or practice and have been given notice. They are nervously waiting for Tony to proceeed with his plans and to get jobs with Phillips Fox pre-merger, so they can be a part of his plans.

Well, it turns out that our tipster was quite prophetic indeed. DLAPH severed financial ties with the firm’s NZ office and completely cut its relationship with the firm’s Adelaide office late last year. In the last three years, DLA Phillips Fox’s partnership has contracted markedly. The firm has reported a partnership of the following sizes over this period:

• July 2008: 166
• July 2009: 161
• July 2010: 156
• March 2011: 126

Following the pre-merger defections from the DLAPH Brisbane office, revealed by FirmSpy on 11 March, DLAPH’s partnership will total 116 – a staggering 30% drop in three years.

The AFR commented on the reduction on Friday:

[Tony Holland] wasted no time shedding Phillips Fox’s excess weight. The firm was ruthless in its decision to cut its exposure to lower priority markets.

Update: we received further word of partner departures from this spy: “Talking about the rising count of DLA Philips Fox partners jumping ship, Iain Rennie, a corporate partner in their Sydney office has this week started at TressCox”.

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