After five straight years of declines in profits per partner, Dorsey & Whitney looks ready to embrace change, in the form of a new management team. The Minneapolis firm’s PPP slid 8 percent in 2012, to $515,000, its lowest mark since 2006. While the firm’s gross revenue was down a more modest 3.1 percent, to $313.5 million, the falloff nonetheless erased the slight top-line gains Dorsey enjoyed in 2011. At $605,000, the firm’s revenue per lawyer was essentially flat.
While offering an optimistic take on the results, managing partner Kenneth Cutler acknowledges that Dorsey needs a rebound. "It was a disappointing year overall, but we were pleased with the fact that we continue to generate, for a middle-market firm like ours, a good RPL," says Cutler, describing RPL as the best indicator of a law firm’s ability to generate business. "But there is no question that we would like to improve all of our numbersrevenue, RPL, PPPand that’s what our [new management] group is focused on."
