Baker & McKenzie is something of an enigma. In terms of global spread, it is peerless, comprising more than 3,000 lawyers based in 36 jurisdictions – more than any other firm – with a client list that includes such luminaries as Sony, Bank of America, BP Amoco, Disney and Goldman Sachs. Yet it has proved an easy target for detractors, who claim its inability to crack the top tier in any but a handful of jurisdictions belies wider issues of quality control. Having stolen the march on the competition by going global long before such a phenomenon had even been named, the firm appears to have become a victim of its own early success.
The figures tell the story. While turnover stood at an impressive $1bn at the end of the last financial year – snapping at the heels of the likes of Clifford Chance and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom – its estimated profits per partner were only $560,000, on a par with much smaller mid-tier players such as San Francisco’s Thelen Reid & Priest or London’s Nabarro Nathanson. Size, it seemed, did not go hand in hand with strength.
