The North East’s largest law firm has hailed a “strong performance” during the pandemic which saw both turnover and profitability increase.
Womble Bond Dickinson – formerly Dickinson Dees and then Bond Dickinson before a 2017 merger with US firm Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice to create a trans-Atlantic practice – has released accounts for the year ending April 30.
In the accounts, the company records a small rise in turnover from £104.8m to £105.7m, while operating profit increased from £23m to £32m.
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The Newcastle company also outlined how it had reversed initial cost-saving measures instituted at the start of the pandemic, including the repayment of cash received from the Government’s Job Retention Scheme.
The accounts say: “The group’s results for the year to April 30 report a strong performance, despite the challenging circumstances, with a slight increase in turnover and improved profitability versus the prior year.
“The business saw a number of client wins across a wide range of sectors. Our combination with Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP, our Lex Mundi and our alliance with Redeker in Germany continued to be beneficial in the referral of international clients.
“The firm was ranked in the Top 30 most innovative law firms in Europe for demonstrating innovation for clients and in how the law is practised as well as the wide range of programmes run by the firm to support talent, skills and responsible business initiatives across the UK and beyond.
“As part of our Covid-19 continengency plan we mobilised the entire firm to use e-signatures, which has become a business critical tool to help support our clients’ business continuiny and to keep transactions moving.”
The accounts tell how the firm furloughed staff, reduced partner drawings and postponed its annual pay review to preserve its financial position as the pandemic hit. Just over 100 staff were furloughed, resulting in income of £1.8m but this was repaid in July.
The company has also brought back both the pay review and partner drawings, while it paid a one-off bonus to all eligible staff equivalent to 2% of their salaries in recognition of work during the pandemic.
The accounts reveal how the company’s headcount fell from 1,011 a year earlier to 924 with reductions in both fee earners and support staff. The number of members entitled to share in the company’s profits fell from 129 to 114, with the largest entitlement rising from £267,000 to £442,000.
Womble Bond Dickinson announced earlier this year that it would be consolidating its two current Newcastle offices with a move to a new site at the Newcastle Helix development.
It also elected Newcastle-based Paul Stewart to succeed Jonathan Blair as its UK managing partner. Mr Stewart will also serve as co-chair of Womble Bond Dickinson’s global board.
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