In case you missed it, DLA Piper’s second in charge of international operations, a Mr Andrew Darwin, has made a staggeringly ambitious growth target for his new-look firm. We couldn’t confirm his lineage, but assuming Andrew is a descendant of the famous Charles Darwin, his take On The Origin of Species of Law-Firm Revenue growth provides a new conceptualisation of his great grandfather’s work. According to the AFR (06/05), there is:
a target for “overall revenue growth for the [Asia-Pacific] region [of] between 50 and 60 per cent over three years”, said Mr Dawrin, who is managing director, groups and services, in the UK.
It is unclear from the AFR article whether Charles Andrew Darwin developed the target before or after the Brisbane office substantially defected from the wider DLA group. However, it is clear that it was made before the Canberra office upped and left over the weekend. So let’s go over the numbers and consider Darwin’s theory target in more detail.
In 2009, DLAPH partners were estimated to pull in revenue of $1.46million each. Multiplied by the number of partners who have defected since Mr Darwin’s target was presumably formed, that’s revenue of $23.3million – or just over 10% of the firms 2009 revenue of $224million.In 2010, DLAPH’s revenue had shrunk to $217million, pushing $23.3million to just over 11% of the firm’s revenue. By our calculations, this means that the weak egg-shell that is DLA Piper Australia will now have to grow its revenue by something like 70% between now and 2014 if the domestic arm of the firm is to survive contribute equally to the firm’s Asia-Pacific growth targets. But if 16 partners have left the firm in 1 month, and the firm continues on its current partnership-defection trajectory, there will be zero partners left at the firm in mid-2012, casting significant doubt over Andrew’s Darwinism.
The firm’s US managing partner, Terry O’Malley, told the AFR:
“This final step in the evolution of Australia becoming an integrated part of the firm is a major landmark for us… over half the growth in global GDP for the forseeable future is going to come out of the Asia-Pacific region. As you look at what is going on in economies around the world, locations that have strong natural resources, that have high quality banking infrastructure, that have a rule of law that is reliable: that’s the magic potion that companies are looking for, for investments. And Australia has all of those characteristics
Yes, Australia certainly sounds like a Natural Selection for the firm, but will DLA Australia survive and thrive?
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As an insider I can’t understand why the person who was responsible for managing the integration process, Russell Adams, has been rewarded by being appointed the Australian representative on the DLA Piper Board, the Sydney Office Leader AND the National Head of Litigation.
Does the lack of comments suggest DLA is irrelevant?