Partner Profits

New York Profits Making a Comeback

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It’s a been a beautiful week in New York City. The sun is shining and Biglaw partners are making it rain. Am Law Daily reports some great news from Cravath:

Cravath, Swaine & Moore joins the exclusive ranks of New York firms that achieved a significant jump in both revenue and profits per equity partner (PPP) last year. The firm’s revenue rose 7 percent to $569 million; PPP increased 8 percent to $2.7 million, according to our reporting.

This is wonderful news compared to what was coming out of Cravath last year:

Cravath’s 2009 results are an optimistic change from a disappointing 2008 when reveue fell 13 percent and PPP plunged 24 percent, as we reported last year. Despite this rebound, the firm’s numbers remain below the high water mark of 2007, when revenue reached $610.5 million and PPP soared to $3.3 million.

But Cravath isn’t the only New York titan that received good news this week …


Earlier this week, Am Law reported that Davis Polk & Wardwell also had a good 2009. DPW’s profits per partner rose 10%:

Davis Polk partners took home an average of nearly $2.1 million last year, up from $1.9 million in 2008. Revenue per lawyer, an indicator of just how busy lawyers were, also rose by nearly a percent to $1.2 million.
Though M&A work was down globally, Davis Polk appeared to get the lion’s share of the biggest deals struck. According to Thomson Reuters’s worldwide data, Davis Polk ranked fifth in M&A last year, compared with twenty-first in 2008, handling deals totaling $245.5 billion, an increase of 71.3 percent over the $143.3 billion it handled in 2008.

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DPW and Cravath achieved these numbers without gutting their associate and staff ranks, as other firms have.
Perhaps there was a flight to quality in 2009?
Congratulations to Cravath and DPW. Let’s do it again for 2010.
THE AM LAW 100: A Good Year For Cravath [Am Law Daily]
THE AM LAW 100: Davis Polk Leads the New York Pack; Sullivan, Cleary Hang In [Am Law Daily]

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