Biglaw, Money, Partner Issues, Partner Profits, Rankings

The 2015 Am Law 100: Revenues Rising, Profits Popping, And A New #1 Firm

Who's the new top firm by gross revenue, and what obscene new high did Wachtell Lipton profits hit last year?

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Gross Revenue

The Am Law 100 is a ranking of law firms by gross revenue in the prior year, and under that metric there’s a new top dog: Latham & Watkins. As noted by Am Law:

Latham is only the fourth firm to reach the top of The Am Law’s gross revenue rankings, which since their inception in 1985 have been perennially dominated by Baker & McKenzie, DLA Piper and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. (Baker & McKenzie, DLA Piper and Skadden this year placed second, third and fourth, respectively.) Latham displaced DLA Piper thanks to a more than 14 percent increase in revenue, to $2.6 billion, the most revenue ever accrued by a single Am Law 100 law firm.

If someone new had to bump DLA Piper out of the top spot, it makes sense for it to be Latham. We’ve previously discussed Latham’s remarkable financial performance in 2014, the final year of Robert Dell’s two-decade reign as global chair.

According to Am Law, 27 firms broke the billion-dollar mark in revenue in 2014, up from 23 in 2013. Most firms enjoyed revenue gains — 80 out of 100, to be exact — and two West Coast, tech-focused firms, Fenwick & West and Cooley, boasted the largest revenue jumps (both around 19 percent).

As for decliners, the biggest loser was O’Melveny & Myers, where gross revenue fell by 9.3 percent in 2014 (after falling more than 10 percent in 2013). In last year’s rankings, OMM posted the second-biggest revenue drop, behind only Bingham McCutchen — and we all know what happened to them. (If you have info you’d like to share with us about O’Melveny, feel free to email us or to text us (646-820-8477); we might write something.)

The top 10 firms by gross revenue appear below. You can access the full list here.

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Revenue Per Lawyer

As we’ve mentioned before, some industry observers believe RPL to be the best measure of a firm’s financial health. You can’t juice it as easily as gross revenue (by growing headcount) or profits per partner (by shrinking the equity partnership).

For the Am Law 100 as a whole, revenue per lawyer grew by a respectable 3.7 percent in 2014, a big improvement over the 0.4 percent dip in 2013. Some 84 firms grew their RPL in 2014, versus 66 in 2013. Congrats to Jenner & Block for the biggest jump (23 percent).

The top 10 firms by revenue per lawyer appear below. You can access the full list here.

Profits Per Partner

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Finally, everyone’s favorite ranking: PPP, yeah you know me!

For the Am Law 100 overall, average profits per partner grew by a nifty 5.3 percent last year, far better than 2013’s measly 0.2 percent. But some firms did far better than others. The M&A-focused Wall Street firms fared especially well. Perennial top dog Wachtell Lipton became the first firm to break the $5 million mark, increasing its lead over second-place Quinn Emanuel, which is closing in on that benchmark as well. Outside of the top 10, congrats to Kilpatrick Townsend for boosting PPP by an eye-popping 32.1 percent (even if, as noted earlier, it was largely driven by “a change in the way the firm distributes equity among its partnership”).

The top 10 firms by profits per partner appear below. You can access the full list here.

Congrats to Biglaw on a banner year in 2014. No wonder associate bonuses were so robust.

How did your firm do in this year’s Am Law 100 rankings? Feel free to discuss in the comments, or email us or text us (646-820-8477) with insights.

The 2015 Am Law 100: Rich and Richer [American Lawyer (sub. req.)]
Am Law 100 Analysis: The Superrich Firms Pull Away [American Lawyer (sub. req.)]

Earlier: The 2014 Am Law 100: ‘The Super Rich Get Richer’
The 2013 Am Law 100: A Year of ‘Slow Growth’
The 2012 Am Law 100: Revenue and Profits Continue To Climb

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