REVENUE & profits have nosedived 35% at TROUBLED Edinburgh law firm DUNDAS & WILSON, recently hit in the ‘Tender Bender’ resignation scandal involving insider information obtained by a senior partner in a bidding contract. Figures announced by the impoverished law firm show that total revenue in the year to 30 April fell from £62m to £54.5m, or 12%, while profit per equity partner was down by a much larger 35%, from £325,000 to £210,000.
The previous year saw growth of 2-3% in each figure. It appears most practice sectors showed revenue falls, with the London office showing a similar decline to the Scottish operations.
The once high profile firm was last year forced to look for a partner, however merger talks with Bircham Dyson Bell of London failed in the autumn and a total of 28 redundancies were confirmed in April of this year.
The troubled firm was reported last week to have recently set up a firm within the firm comprised exclusively of paralegals to carry out work for clients which would previously been undertaken by solicitors. The firm claimed the move would save clients money, as much of the work to be carried out by the Legal Services Unit (LSU) would focus on routine, procedural and repeat work.
However, a legal insider commented at the time he thought it was unlikely costs to clients will be reduced, also pointing out the situation remains unclear as to whether clients will be told their legal interests are not being dealt with by a fully qualified solicitor, or whether the same ‘safeguards’ for poorly provided services or negligent work will cover the activities of the paralegals in the new ‘arms length’ style unit.
More on the story can be found on the Dundas & Wilson website, along with an interesting note on measures to tackle Japanese knotweed (getting knotted ? – Ed)
1 comment:
Wonderful news - there could be no more deserving recipient of misfortune than a Scottish solicitor.
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