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Our view....
After a disastrous few years Martineau
finally seems to have turned the corner. Profits per partner for
2007/2008 have risen to £260,000, up from a dismal £135,000 in 2003. Still
bear in mind that the firm was pulling in £233,000 all the way back
in 2001, and it doesn't look quite so hot.
Martineau is keen to put the last few years
behind it, and it's easy to see why. The firm's panicked response to
the collapse in profits was
to sack all but one of its 2003 qualifiers. By email. "It's not
as callous as it sounds," whined the senior partner at the time,
William Barker. Really? Apparently the only person they kept on left shortly
thereafter, meaning the firm lost every penny it invested in
recruiting and training an entire year. Three trainees who were due to
join the firm in September 2003 had their places deferred, and the
2004 intake was halved.
The firm accepts that this was a gigantic
cock-up, and has gone to great pains to ensure that this sort of thing doesn't
happen again. All nine of the 2005 qualifiers were offered places in
February of that year, well before any other firm in Birmingham got its act together (and
before the trainees had even started their last seats). Eight of them
accepted. The firm now takes on 20 trainees a year in Brum.
The firm has managed to shift all its old
offices, and moved to swanky new premises at 1 Colmore Row. A breach
of covenant by its landlord bagged it a handy and entirely unexpected
£1.7 million. The loss of its heads of education, private client and pensions a couple of years ago hasn't
resulted in the bodyblow that some partners feared, with the firm continuing to
post slight increases in turnover and acting on sizeable deals: real estate
advised on a £93 milion shopping centre, there were several corporate deals for
Homserve plc, and education acted for St Anne's college Oxford and the
University of Plymouth.
OK, so it's hardly Goldman Sachs or UBS, and
whilst profits may be on the rise it's fair to say that Martineau's partners are
unlikely to be troubling Birmingham's Bentley dealers. But then the hours you'll
work are commensurate with that, and the firm says that it takes work/life
balance very seriously. Assistants and partners can work part-time, and
sabbaticals are actively encouraged.
The fact that the firm made it into the Sunday
Times top 100 employers means that this probably isn't empty boasting. The market has improved, the firm is actively
recruiting, and for the foreseeable future at least it looks like a reasonable
bet.
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