After making a brief return to topline growth in 2011, Mayer Brown’s financial performance slipped back into decline in 2012, according to The American Lawyer‘s reporting.
Mayer Brown had seen revenue bounce back in 2011 to reverse two consecutive years of negative growth, but the firm suffered a fresh slump in 2012, with gross revenue dropping 3.7 percent to a six-year low of $1.09 billion. Net income fell even more steeply, tumbling 6.2 percent to $304 million, which resulted in a 2.5 percent slide in profits per partner, to $1.15 million. Revenue per lawyer actually inched up 0.7 percent to $750,000, however, thanks to a reduction in total attorney head count of more than 4 percent, from 1,523 to 1,457—the smallest the firm has been since 2007. Mayer Brown’s profit margin, meanwhile, dipped 1 percentage point, to 28 percent—a full 5 percentage points below its 2007 level, but still 2 percentage points higher than the firm achieved in 2010.
