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Our view...
Stephenson Harwood has
always had a strong reputation for middle tier corporate work,
shipping and litigation. This reputation took a battering a couple of
years ago when the firm went through a bit of a wobble, but things
seem to be firmly back on track. Revenue in
2005/2006 was up by 9% to £61.1 million. And this rose by another 17%
in 2006/2007 to £71.1 million. And then by another 19% to £85.3
million in 2007/2008. Profits are on the up too - PEP has rocketed to
£620,000. Senior partners now push a million a year.
The firm had a very tough
time at the start of the millennium, with high profile defections and
a difficult merger. A modest rise in profits in 2004 and 2005 was accompanied by a 6.4% fall in
turnover in 2004 - the largest out of any of the UK's top 50 firms. Turnover
fell by another 4.4% in 2004/2005.
But things have massively improved over the last couple of years.
And quite apart from the increase in work there is much that is
good about SH.
One advantage, in contrast to many other City firms, is that whilst the corporate department is undoubtedly important, it is not king, with other departments being highly regarded in their own right.
And the firm has acted on some properly big deals and cases recently.
It advised ST Martins Property Group on the $750 million purchase of
the Cevahir Mall in Istanbul, Europe's largest single-asset
transaction in recent years. On the litigation side it acted againsst
a close associate of Vladimir Putin in a $3bn High Court claim and for
IXIS against the arranger and lead managers of a £750 million
securitisation transaction.
Being
a firm with a strong shipping department, you'd also expect it to have
some interesting overseas offices. It has six of them, in fact,
including three in China - Guangzhou, Shanghai and Hong Kong.
In essence, SH is a capable mid-sized
firm fortunate enough to have
offices that are slap bang in the middle of the City, right by St
Paul's. It's more than capable of doing good quality work for good
clients (including the likes of HSBC and Merrill Lynch) and would
continue to do so if only its partners would stop disappearing to
do it for other firms. Now
it's finally decided to specialise in the areas in which its
strengths lie (banking and asset finance, maritime services and
property) it's reversed the trend, and has nicked more laterals from
other firms than it has lost.
Salaries (which are banded - the figures on
the right are an average) are reasonable rather than lavish, but then
a billing target of 1,550 hours isn't unduly onerous. And the bonus
scheme means that an outstanding three year qualified lawyer could
technically pull in £85,000 a year. All the trainees who qualified in
2006 were offered places at the firm
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