经济学人43;律师事务所 砰然毁灭,轻轻消亡?

 　　Business

　　商业
　　Dewey & LeBoeuff
　　杜威路博国际律师事务所
　　With a bang, not a whimper
　　砰然毁灭，而不是轻轻消亡
　　When a law firm gets into trouble, it can be hard to recover
　　律师事务所，一旦陷入困境就难以摆脱
　　THE chief benefit of the merger 1 of Dewey Ballantine and LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae may have been a shorter name. The deal, in 2007, created Dewey & LeBoeuf, the world's 23rd-biggest law firm by revenue. The new firm was ambitious. But according to the American Lawyer, a magazine and compiler of legal league tables, revenue for 2010 turned out to be $760m, $150m less than first thought; last year's sum, $782m, was not much better. Dewey has lost 70 of its partners—more than a fifth of the total-and more keep jumping ship. It is said to be considering a "prepackaged" bankruptcy 2 and a merger with another firm, Greenberg Traurig.
　　2007年，杜威律师事务所与路博律师事务所合并，带来的主要好处大概是新的律师事务所有了一个更简洁的名字——杜威.路博律师事务所，营业收入全球排名第23位。曾经雄心勃勃的杜威如今发展状况却不尽如人意。《美国律师》杂志编纂的律师事务所排行榜数据显示：2010年，杜威.路博律师事务所的年收入只有7.6亿美元，比预期低1.5亿美元；去年的总收入为7.82亿美元，比2010年强不了多少。杜威公司已经失去了70位合伙人(占合伙人总数15%以上)，而更多的人也正打算跳槽。有消息称，该公司正在考虑"预组破产"，并计划与格林贝格.特劳里格公司合并。
　　The speed of Dewey's decline shows how fragile law firms' finances can be. If a public company gets into trouble, the price of its shares falls, giving investors 3 an incentive 4 to buy if they think the market undervalues it. In companies with physical assets, creditors 5 can demand that they be sold to repay loans. But nearly all law firms are private partnerships 6 whose only real assets are the partners themselves. Not only can they not be sold; they can get up and walk to a new firm. Worse, American lawyers (unlike their British cousins) typically take their clients with them.
　　从杜威的迅速衰落可以看出律师事务所的收入何其不稳定。当一家上市公司陷入困境时，股价下跌，此时如果其市场价值被低估，可能会激励投资者进行收购；同时债权人可以要求出售公司实物资产来偿还债务。但几乎所有的律师事务都是私人合股制公司，其资产就是合股人本身。公司合伙人当然无法出售，他们只能筹备建立新的公司。更加糟糕的是，美国的律师（这点不像其英国同行）离去时会带走相应的客户资源。
　　Survivors 7 of failed firms talk ruefully about what went wrong-usually, overexpansion in one of two ways. The first is geographical 8: a regional firm going national or a national one, international. This tends to dilute 9 profits per partner. Offices abroad, especially, can take a long time to turn a profit. The second sort of expansion (Dewey's kind) is to hire hotshot partners from outside. According to lawyers from other firms, Dewey committed two sins: guaranteeing poached partners their first few years of income, and borrowing from banks to pay for them. Unusually, in 2010 Dewey also issued bonds; the first of these mature next year.
　　一家公司破产后，幸存的管理层会遗憾地谈论他们的失误之处在于过度扩张——一般有两种情况：一种是地理意义上的扩张，可能是一家区域性公司开始面向全国市场，也可能是一家国内公司转向跨国经营。各个合伙人的利益往往会因此降低，特别是建立国外办事处这种做法很可能需要几年的时间才开始盈利。另一种扩张则是通过企业从外部引进行业高手作为合伙人实现，这也是杜威公司的选择。据其他公司的律师称，杜威公司承认自己犯了两个大错：先向那些新合伙人许诺头几年的高薪（把他们从其他公司挖来），然后又从银行借款来兑现这些承诺 。反常的是，杜威还于2010年发行了债券，首批债券将于明年到期。
　　Firms with large debts are vulnerable if a big client leaves, a practice area sours or the economy weakens. Partners may sit tight for one bad year, but after another some will scarper with their clients. Firms that have nurtured 10 their own talent are likely to have more loyal lawyers; poachers such as Dewey, fewer. Expensive hires can cause resentment 11. "There's only 100% of the profit to go around," says Ward 12 Bower 13 of Altman Weil, a consultancy. "To the extent anyone is overpaid, by definition someone else is underpaid."
　　失去大客户，某一地区业务状况恶化或者经济疲软——这些都会使负担大量债务的公司变得十分脆弱。遇到一个坏年景时，合伙人可能会静观其变，如果情况未能好转，部分人会带着他们的客户溜走。自己出资培养人才的事务所，其律师的忠诚度更高；而到处挖人的杜威就没有那么多忠诚的律师了。（对部分合伙人的）高薪雇用也会引来他人的怨恨。自Altman Weil咨询公司的Ward Bower认为"工资总额是一定的，不可能超过利润的100%，如果一些人拿的过多，显然其他人的报酬就过低了"。
　　If enough people leave, the firm may break loan covenants 14 with its banks, which can require it to have a minimum number of partners. Loans may be called in at once, or continued only under onerous 15 conditions that can hasten the decline.
　　如果离开的员工过多，企业可能会违背贷款合约，而银行可能会要求企业把合伙人数控制在最低数量，甚至要求该公司立即清偿贷款。即便银行继续提供贷款，条件也会十分严苛，但这无疑会加快公司的衰退。
　　To stop an implosion 16, managers must act decisively, says Randall Miller 17, of Bryan Cave in Denver. He was managing partner of Holme, Roberts & Owen, which found itself in a tight spot several years ago. An expansion in western states and a split (over that strategy) with the Salt Lake City office left the firm in trouble. Partners were leaving. Mr Bower's Altman Weil helped with a scouring 18 of excess costs. A "brutally 19 honest" conversation with the partners helped convince enough of them to stay to allow the firm to stabilise and survive. It merged 20 with Bryan Cave this year.
　　来自丹佛博凯律师事务所的Randall Miller认为，为了避免公司走向破产，管理层必须果断决策。Miller是HRO律师事务所的任事股东，数年前HRO律师事务所在西部各州扩张，这一战略失败后又与盐湖城的办事处关系破裂，这使得公司陷入困境，合伙人纷纷离去。Mr Bower的Altman Weil咨询公司帮助HRO削减不必要的开支，十分坦诚地向合伙人阐明了公司的情况。这些努力挽留下足够的合伙人，稳定了事务所的状况，避免其走向破产。今年HRO与博凯律师事务所合并。
　　But Mr Miller points out that his firm did not take on big bank debts, as Dewey did. According to the Wall Street Journal, the firm has until the end of April to negotiate the extension of a credit line. Dewey's lineage goes back a century. It may survive for another century, but only if its leaders act decisively in the coming weeks. Other firms watch not with glee but with nervousness, knowing that a short run of bad luck could put them on the same wobbly precipice 21.
　　与此同时Miller先生指出，HRO并未像杜威那样承担大量的银行债务。华尔街日报称，直到四月底杜威才与银行协商扩大信用额度。领导层必须在随后的几星期内果断采取行动，已经走过了一个世纪的杜威才可能走得更远。其他律师事务所也紧张的关注着事态发展，他们无法幸灾乐祸，——毕竟一次小小的不走运足以把他们也推向危机的边缘。