Legal News

L.A. firms face 2009 with cautious optimism and fiscal conservatism

By Richard Binder

With looming uncertainty over prospects for 2009, major Los Angeles-based firms are counting 2008's single-digit revenue growth ? or even a slight decline ? as a boon.They're bracing for worse conditions in 2009.

Revenue grew slightly at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and at Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker, while L.A.'s largest firm, Latham & Watkins, saw a 4 percent decline. The largest growth came at smaller firms, like Quinn Emmanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges; Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton; Manatt, Phelps & Phillips; and Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis. 

Profits per partner dipped 1 percent at Gibson; Paul, Hastings; and Sheppard, Mullin, while O'Melveny & Myers saw PPP slide 7 percent. Manatt's PPP dipped 26 percent, to $925,000, a result of a 17 percent expansion in head count. Among the big four L.A.-based firms, Latham & Watkins took the biggest hit to partner profits, reporting a 21 percent drop to $1.8 million.

Read the full story at The Recorder.

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on February 23, 2009 (boomark / email).