Even opponents to using profit per equity partner (PEP) as a measure of law firm success would struggle to contend that a firm posting a 19% year-on-year fall in profit was in anything other than a challenging position.

In fairness to Ashurst, it hasn't tried to spin its 2015-16 results. As Legal Week reported on 7 July,  PEP has fallen back to a more than 10-year low of £603,000 after two consecutive years of decline, while revenue fell by 10%.

Aside from Macfarlanes, which yesterday announced a 17% drop in PEP after a record year in 2014-15 that was boosted by overdue fees, Ashurst's results are the worst of any top 50 UK firm to have reported so far, by a long way. The next closest firm is Simmons & Simmons where PEP fell 10%; but in the case of both Simmons and Macfarlanes revenue increased marginally.

Coming in the wake of waves of partner exits and the now infamous coup that saw former senior partner Charlie Geffen lose the chairman election to current post-holder Ben Tidswell, a plunge in PEP down to 2004-05 levels suggests a firm in difficulties, by even the most charitable assessment.

Ashurst's position was already weakened in the eyes of some by the loss of many partners in its once-lauded corporate practice, including Geffen himself, who quit for Gibson Dunn in October 2014. Its position looks more precarious still when performance is compared with that of arguably its closest rival, fellow Anglo-Australian firm Herbert Smith Freehills, which has reported positive results.

Ashurst insiders suggest the firm has simply found itself in a perfect storm. Currency fluctuations knocked a full 5% off revenue, while turbulence in the global economy has hit precisely those sectors – according to a report by consultants Bain, which is understood to have cost at least £4m – identified as being key to the firm's success: infrastructure and financial institutions and funds.

Several partners, including recently elected managing partner Paul Jenkins, highlight the fact no fewer than 29 laterals have entered Ashurst's revolving door since May 2015, with the financial benefits of much of this investment – as well as significant investment in technology and Bain – still to be seen.

Meanwhile, the firm will be taking an immediate revenue hit even from those partner exits that were the choice of management.  More than 30 partners have left or announced their departure from Ashurst in the past 20 months or so, including a handful from the Rome and Sweden offices earmarked for closure.

Jenkins, who took up his post in June, unsurprisingly made raising PEP a key plank of his manifesto, alongside increasing efficiency, innovation and improving client relationships.

But transforming the business is going to be no mean feat, made even more challenging by Brexit and the impact it could have on the firm's London engine room.

Former partners contend Ashurst's woes also have a less tangible cause than those cited by the firm. They point to a lack of partner engagement and hint at an absence of loyalty to the last management team, which – aside from Tidswell – has now changed.

They paint a picture of a firm struggling to motivate partners scarred by high-profile exits, a change in focus and, of course, a vastly different footprint in the wake of its Australian merger, with the downward spiral in financial performance inevitably exacerbating the issue.

Put simply, Ashurst isn't the firm it once was. While the change in direction may have been strategically sound – and may ultimately yield positive results – it hasn't been popular with all partners and loyalty to what is essentially a different firm is going to take time to build.

Former partners speak of frustration among high performers in London and they point to a firm distracted and inwardly focused as a result of the Bain review, with partner time invested on strategy rather than winning business.

Combined with resentment at some underperforming international offices and the lack of a substantive US presence, the poor financial performance has compounded the problem. Once loyalty has been broken, it is harder to justify hanging around to continue to put in the hours without the financial reward. Even for those in core sectors.

The good news is that the plain-talking Jenkins appears to have the support of partners and the respect of former partners, who believe he will focus on getting the job done rather than simply strategising.

The lockstep overhaul he plans will go some way towards fixing the problem by making it easier to reward star performers. But ultimately, more money is going to have to go into the pot in order to keep everyone happy. And, at a time when falling activity levels are likely post-Brexit, this may be hard to achieve.

Even with a brand as established as Ashurst, Jenkins is going to have his work cut out for him.