Exchange rates blamed for 3% revenue decline at DLA Piper
Law firm DLA Piper has reported that revenues are down to $2.47bn (£2.02bn) – a decline of 2.9% – which the firm is blaming on currency exchange rate losses.
It blamed its “large international presence” for the decline for the full year in 2015.
This was offset by net profits, which increased to $643.4m (£526.11) from $605.4m (£495.2m).
The total numbers of lawyers declined by 140 to 3,615 as the company trimmed its staff numbers.
Revenue per lawyer was up slightly to $683,189 compared to $677,091 the year before and in sterling, DLA said overall turnover was up 3%.
It was announced in January 2017 that Sarah Day would be replaced with new Leeds office managing partner Allison Page, but the the firm has also been hit by a spate of departures, with partners Kate Payne and Vikki Massarano leaving for ARC Pensions Law in February this year.
Former Leeds partner Josh Wong also defected from the firm recently to join Signature Litigation.
This follows a difficult year for the firm in 2016 in which announced 200 job cuts, later reduced to 175.
85 jobs were set to be cut in the Leeds and Sheffield offices in the offshoring exercise which would move business support functions to a base in Poland.
