If you follow the legal media, one of the biggest stories so far this year was when the major law firm, Dentons, announced it was no longer reporting average profits per equity partner, saying that it was a meaningless statistic for a firm that operates in so many global jurisdictions.
A little storm erupted in our world.
Dentons first sent an explanatory letter to The American Lawyer, which publishes the influential annual law firm financial surveys.
American Lawyer editor Kim Kleman fought back with In Defense of PPP
Dentons shot back again with this note.
Other legal journalists and commentators weighed in.
One thing you may have missed amid the melee was the increasing importance that Dentons seems to attach to rankings and awards conducted by independent organizations.
Watch this video with Joseph Andrew, the global chair at Dentons.
He was interviewed by Lee Pacchia on his Business of Law show about his firm’s decision to stop reporting profits per equity partner.
In Andrew’s view, rankings and awards are less easily manipulated by law firms themselves – as he says is the case with AmLaw 100 reporting – and therefore of more value to the firm and clients.
He says:
“Quality metrics are what clients really care about, and these are things that we try to focus on. So we’re very supportive of people trying to report on different types of awards, Chambers ratings, Lexpert ratings, all the things that go to the service we provide.”
Mr. Andrew said he preferred measures that could not be so easily fiddled:
“How many Chambers-rated lawyers do you have? What band are they in? Those are outside, third-party verifiable numbers – the kinds of things that people ought to concentrate on.”
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