Dewey & LeBoeuf. What can one say or write about the struggling New York law firm struck by a wave of partner defections?  Well, the American Lawyer magazine, for one, plans to substantially adjust the firm's numbers posted in its annual 'Am Law 100' rankings for the past 2 years.  The rankings are published in May. The American Lawyer, the chief trade publication for the nation’s largest corporate law firms, is responding to news reports that cite firm management as saying its earnings for 2011 were actually $250 million - far less than the 2011 earnings number that were reported for the Am Law 100 database 3 weeks earlier. AmLaw Daily also said that revenues collected in 2011 - $935 million, as reported by Dewey's management - was, in reality, about $782 million.  Profits per partner were about $1 million, not $1.8 million, as was initially reported. Dewey's Statement to American Lawyer. Dewey says that it sees no need for the magazine to restate its numbers, which it defended as accurate.  The firm said they were arrived at using a different methodology than the one used for the recently published numbers.  Dewey’s statement in full reads, as follows:

We shared our methodology for arriving at the numbers we gave to American Lawyer prior to your publication of that data.  Using that methodology, the numbers we gave you were accurate at that time and they remain accurate now.  Having discussed our approach with you and answered your questions before publication, we assume that if AmLaw had a problem with, or took exception to, the use of that methodology — which was consistent with our presentation for prior years - you would have told us so.  We also assume that if our approach was inconsistent with the methodology being used by other law firms, you would have told us that too.

There is no reason or rationale now to change or restate our numbers, since as we said before, the numbers are accurate.  The numbers in the Bloomberg were derived using a different methodology.  If any change is contemplated, before that change is made we would want to understand upon what basis that change is being made, what methodology is being used to arrive at the new numbers, and whether American Lawyer has confirmed that every other law firm whose numbers it publishes, is using the same methodology.

Partner Departures. Forty partners of Dewey’s 300 partners have left the firm since January amid disputes over compensation.  On Friday, 4 more corporate lawyers resigned, all of whom are joining rival firm, DLA Piper.  Dewey has slashed partners’ salaries, many of which were guaranteed, after it missed its financial targets last year. Click for referenced story:  [Dealbook, 4/4/12].