Law Firms
Sonnenschein’s Ambitious Growth Plans Call for 2 Mergers
Posted Jul 8, 2008, 10:43 am CST
By Martha Neil
After falling behind law firm competitors jockeying for top profits and prestige, Chicago-based Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal is reportedly plotting its return to the A-list.
"A period came when some of our Chicago competitors and, over time, national competitors began to put some distance between themselves and Sonnenschein. Not in terms of client service or the quality of lawyers, but in terms of scale and profitability," firm chairman Elliott Portnoy, 42, tells the Lawyer.
But now, a little over a month after the firm laid off 37 lawyers and 87 staff, it is already seeking new merger partners, the British legal publication reports.
Portnoy's strategic plan calls for a dramatic increase in the 700-attorney firm's size and geographic scope, apparently via a U.S. merger and a London firm merger, as well as new offices in Europe and China. It presently has 14 offices in the U.S. and Brussels, Belgium.
Although it is not seeking to hit any specific profit figure per equity partner, Portnoy insists, Sonnenschein laid off associates to increase its profitability in some practice groups, and would be delighted to see a firmwide average profit per equity partner of about $1.4 million in 2008.
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