|
Our view....
Manchester firm Cobbetts merged with
Lee Crowder nearly five years ago. It was the best Christmas present the
Brummie firm could have hoped for.
Until then, Lee Crowder had been
finding things tough. Too small to compete with the likes of Eversheds
for big ticket work, but too large to be able to make decent profits
without it,
the firm fell uncomfortably between two stools. It was hit hard
when trophy client 3i moved to Wragges in 2000, and it subsequently
lost a projects partner, its head of construction, and a whole bunch
of property lawyers. 2003 saw it make an undisclosed number of
support staff redundant.
Cobbetts, meanwhile, had been
expanding at a cracking rate. Although merger talks with Halliwell
Landau at the end of the nineties came to nothing, the firm
subsequently took over 18 partner Leeds firm Read Hind and ten partner
Manchester firm Fox Brooks. Clients include the likes of Lufthansa,
and its property department was particularly well regarded.
The two firms had been in talks for
nearly a year before the deal was signed. Although trumpeted as a
merger it was clearly a takeover - after a brief grace period Lee
Crowder had to say goodbye to its name. But the net result was a firm
with more than 120 partners.
The firm reckoned it had sufficient bulk to take on Birmingham's big boys.
But competitors scoffed, suggesting that they already have a stranglehold on
the Birmingham market and the two firms have
relatively few overlapping or complementary fields to provide them
with the necessary cost-efficient synergies.
To some extent they have a point.
Cobbetts culled some 30 partners in 2006, then completely
revamped its partnership structure in early 2008. A wave of defections
followed: two partners jumped ship to DWF, a five lawyer real estate
team moved to Halliwellls, others moved to Ward Hadaway and Shoosmiths.
Turnover in 2007/08 was pretty much static on the previous year at
£59 million. Compare that with the double digit increases posted at
Pinsent Masons and Wragges.
On the upside, the firm managed to
bag a bunch of new AIM clients, and insiders praise the office's cheap
canteen complete with Sky Sports...
Email
your comments |
