Managing partner Neville Eisenberg tells James Boxell and Anna Reynolds he has no regrets about 'dramatic' transformation

Visitors to Berwin Leighton Paisner's (BLP) offices on London Bridge are sometimes invited to guess what inspired the design of its handsome wood-panelled reception area.

The answer is the Ark, which could have some wags asking whether this is part of the firm's disaster planning regime. Senior BLP partners prefer instead to joke about "bringing in magic circle partners two by two", in reference to its ambition over the past few years to take a crack at the big boys by hiring some of their star names.

But it is becoming clear that this strategy comes at a price. While BLP's senior partners, led by the personable Neville Eisenberg (pictured), point with some justification to the fact that it has "had a good recession" overall, its poor financial performance in 2012-13 has caused jitters, with profit per equity partner (PEP) thought to have fallen about 40%. These concerns were not helped by BLP's recent redundancy round, its second in four years, with 58 lawyers and 44 secretarial staff laid off. 

In an interview with Legal Week, Eisenberg says he was surprised at the pace of the slowdown, particularly on transactional work. 

"Because the market is so tight, the competitive environment has been especially tough. In London, there has been fierce competition at all levels. We are increasingly competing for premium work and find ourselves regularly pitching for assignments against the global firms, including the magic circle."

He adds: "In the past five years, we've invested a lot in people from the very best firms. They have been getting up to speed and now we are competing for higher-quality work than we used to – part of the reason we found last year challenging."

In private, partners are even more explicit about the perils of going head-to-head with the top-tier firms in a brutal market for corporate work, with one bemoaning the fact that the magic circle is "going to prices that are unheard of". 

Nevertheless, Eisenberg insists he has no intention of tearing up his plan of targeting a place among the elite, arguing that BLP has undergone a "transformation" under his leadership. 

"The long-term strategy for many years has been to move BLP into a different market bracket. The recession gave us opportunities to accelerate that, and we have absolutely no regrets." 

He highlights the fact that 40% of BLP's turnover now comes from international work, while its overseas network has expanded from two offices to 12. "Six or seven years ago, we were primarily a domestic firm so it's a dramatic change," he says.

Naturally, the firm is also eager to talk about areas where it is performing well. Jonathan Sacher, head of BLP's litigation team, says: "The contentious business has doubled in size in four years. We have hired 13 partners, including our head of regulatory from Allen & Overy and our head of international arbitration from Clifford Chance… Contentious work is 25% of revenue, while it was 11%-12% five years ago – that's huge growth." 

Despite the mutterings about whether the star hires are pulling their weight elsewhere in the firm, Sacher insists they have been "hugely successful" in his department. 

"The quality of our clients now is incomparable. We are acting on some of the leading disputes and investigations in the City, including for the Bakrie family in the Bumi dispute. And we have 25 lawyers on one of the investigations we are handling for a bank on interest rate swaps mis-selling." 

Eisenberg says the international offices provide another bright spot, although he is pausing for breath before deciding on whether to open more – with natural resources one area of interest. 

"Although we are in a period of integration and consolidation, we will continue to work on our strategy over the coming months. The contentious business is a growth area for us. We are leveraging the real estate brand globally. We will be looking at how to build critical mass in our offices. That will be the strategic direction rather than any dramatic mergers."

Another source of optimism, he adds, is Lawyers on Demand (LoD), BLP's 120-strong legal secondment service, which had £9m of revenues over the past 12 months. 

For now, Eisenberg says there are no more plans for firmwide layoffs, with some critics claiming BLP is in danger of "hollowing out its middle" by losing good associates tempted by generous redundancy payouts and jobs elsewhere. 

Senior partners counter that they are largely happy with how the redundancy programme went. They say they know more needs to be done to make sure they do not end up saddled with a bloated partnership, unsupported by the talented and driven junior lawyers who are the lifeblood of any growing practice.

"We are running an ongoing assessment of the partnership as well," is Eisenberg's blunt conclusion.

Related:

• BLP real estate team to feel brunt of cuts as partners predict sharp PEP dip
• BLP posts 5% revenue decrease as firm remains tight-lipped on PEP dip