Whether or not it was ever quite fair, Latham & Watkins became the poster child for Biglaw’s 2009 purge. Fast forward to this week: The Am Law Daily reports that Latham’s 2016 revenue increased 6.5 percent, to $2.823 billion. This just happens to be the “most revenue ever generated by a law firm in a single fiscal year.”
Despite whatever PR hit the firm took in the wake of the Great Recession, it’s impossible to gainsay Latham’s strategic decisions since. The firm has added more than a billion dollars to its revenue since 2009, along with an 80 percent rise in its net profit. Perhaps it’s time to retire “Lathamed” as a verb?
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Brian Dalton is the director of research for Breaking Media. Feel free to email him with any questions or comments.