Cayman Firm ‘Narrows Gap With Appleby’
While Bermuda’s Appleby remains the world’s largest provider of offshore legal, fiduciary and administration services, a Cayman-based rival began to nip at its heels in 2011, “The Lawyer” magazine reports today [Feb.20].
The British legal journal says Cayman’s Maples & Calder “closed significantly” thanks to Appleby’s former’s loss of lawyers and partners and the latter’s recruitment efforts.
The Bermuda law firm has a word-wide staff of 805, while Maples & Calder now boasts 604 employees at its various global offices — breaking the 600-barrier for the first time in 2011.
“Appleby saw its partnership decrease by seven, from 82 at the end of 2010 to 75 at the end of last year,” reports the magazine. “Its qualified lawyer count dropped to 210 from 222, while fee-earner numbers went down to 255 from 270. Total staff numbers rose slightly, from 801 to 805.”
Maples & Calder added two partners and 10 lawyers, meaning it joins Appleby as the only offshore international firm with more than 200 qualified lawyers.
“Although total staff numbers in Appleby’s legal arm were very marginally up last year, and slightly more substantially in the firm’s fiduciary, the firm’s lawyer headcount was down,” said the magazine. “Overall fee-earner numbers dropped by 15, qualified lawyer numbers by 12 and the firm had seven fewer partners.”
The magazine pointed out growth in the local economy suffered during 2011, with redundancies at both Appleby and Bermuda-based Conyers Dill & Pearman in 2011.
“Bermuda firms Cox Hallett Wilkinson and Wakefield Quin both said their turnovers were largely flat compared with the previous year’s,” noted the magazine. “Given the jurisdiction’s reliance on the insurance sector and Bermuda’s current economic woes, flat turnover is actually a pretty good result.”
“The Lawyer” said although firms in rival offshore jurisdictions had made some inroads on Appleby’s dominance in the field, the Bermuda company retains a commanding overall lead.
“Nevertheless, while the chasing pack narrowed the gap slightly, Appleby still dwarfs its rivals by overall headcount,” the magazine reported. “Office numbers were also down. The firm quietly closed its Bahrain office at the end of March 2011 amid unrest in the country. Office managing director Jeanne Bartlett relocated to London and has since retired.”
Appleby is now planning to invest in Asia instead and this week announced the imminent launch of a Shanghai representative office. The firm’s fiduciary will open in China first, followed by lawyers later in the year.
Last year saw a revamp of Appleby’s management structure.
The firm replaced its executive board with a group management board headed by Bermudian Peter Bubenzer [pictured at top] as chairman. Michael O’Connell stepped up from being Jersey managing partner to become group managing partner. A further five partners join the duo on the board.
Appleby has offices in Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Isle of Man, Jersey, London, Mauritius, Seychelles and Zurich.
Key practice areas include corporate and commercial, litigation and insolvency, private client and trusts and property law.
Appleby is the successor to Appleby Spurling & Kempe, founded in Bermuda in 1949 to market and develop Bermuda as an international business centre.
Maybe the Cayman’s can catch and pass Bermuda, contrary to what some people believe.