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Our view....
From humble
beginnings in Plymouth, Bond Pearce has grown to become a serious
commercial contender. The Bristol office in particular has gone from
strength to strength since its launch in 1998, and now has
an annual turnover of around £11 million. Originally set up
as a local base for the employment and insurance teams working with the
Post Office, the office has grown incrementally through a series of
small mergers and lateral hires. It
took over Eversheds' entire Bristol property team and
Cartwright's 11-partner corporate department in 2001, as well as setting up a
clinical negligence team in 2004. Even during the unfavourable market
conditions of 2003 and 2004 the firm managed to keep on all its trainees.
Sadly
it doesn't seem to be coping quite so well with the boom. Turnover for
2005-06 was almost static, and profits per equity partner actually fell
from £213,000 to £180,000. This is one of the lowest
showings in the region, and under half what partners at Burges Salmon
and Osborne Clarke are making. The partners are hoping that the
recently-announced £3m investment in IT, the move to single-site
offices in Bristol and Southampton and the new London insurance
practice will soon start paying off. But when over half your income
comes from litigation, it's hard to compete in a strong corporate
market.
It's not that the firm suffers from a lack
of quality clients - it has the likes of Marks & Spencer, Tesco,
Safeway and B&Q on its books. But it does have problems attracting
the real headline deals. By opening up its London office the firm hopes
to channel a regular flow of high-value insurance work back to the
South West. Its flagship energy department seems most likely to make
the breakthrough, having recently acted for National Wind Power on
securing a £400 million investment fund to develop its wind
energy business.
The
firm accepts that it needs to bounce back, and claims that all
departments are now growing. It's introducing a merit-based pay
structure for its partners as of April 2007, so its star performers
will be properly rewarded and should be unlikely to jump ship to more
profitable rivals. Assistants tell us that it's a friendly office and
it clearly looks after its staff, but whilst it's getting its house
back in order you should take a long, hard look at local rivals before
signing on the dotted line.
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