The 2017 Am Law 100: A Turning Point For Biglaw?

Revenue per lawyer was basically flat; also, there's a new #2 in the rankings.

Gross Revenue

The profits-per-partner rankings get the most attention (and more on them later), but remember that revenue rules the rankings roost for the Am Law 100. For the 2017 Am Law 100 rankings, Latham & Watkins continues its reign at the top, with Kirkland jumping up to second. Am Law points out that this is the first year in a long time that a verein hasn’t been in the first or second spot.

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

2 - 2017 Am Law 100 by gross revenue

Revenue Per Lawyer

Revenue per lawyer is a favored metric for a firm’s financial health because you can’t game it as easily as gross revenue (by growing headcount) or profits per partner (by shrinking the equity partnership).

In 2016, RPL growth was fairly sluggish for the entire Am Law 100, clocking in at 1.5 percent. But for the top 10 firms ranked by RPL, the average increase was around 3.4 percent, more than double the figure for the overall Am Law 100. The only firm in the top 10 to see a decline was M&A-focused Wachtell Lipton, presumably because the M&A market in 2016, while strong, wasn’t quite as red-hot as in 2015 (when Wachtell posted a whopping 21 percent increase in RPL).

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

2017 Am Law 100 ranked by revenue per lawyer RPL.png

Profits Per Partner

Time for your favorite (or least favorite) ranking: profits per partner, aka “PPP.”

Wachtell Lipton might no longer be the most prestigious Biglaw firm in the country, but it’s still the most profitable — by far. Despite seeing PPP tumble by 12 percent, WLRK racked up $5.8 million in profits per partner, well ahead of the second-place firm, Quinn Emanuel (which saw a 13.5 percent increase, to $5 million). So Quinn did close the gap between itself and Wachtell, but QE still has a ways to go. Seeing how the two firms fare against one another is one easy way of comparing how big-ticket M&A and high-stakes litigation fared in the past year, since each firm is at the top of its respective sphere.

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Overall the Am Law 100 grew PPP by 3 percent, but the top 10 did far better. Their PPP increased by an average of 7.6 percent (even taking into account Wachtell’s waning). Four firms in the top 10 posted double-digit increases — with the biggest increase boasted by Cravath (18 percent). If irate partners at rival firms had asked their Cravath counterparts why they raised associate salaries last year, the Cravathians might have responded, “Because we can.”

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

2017 Am Law 100 ranked by 2016 profits per partner PPP

Congratulations to the Am Law 100 on making it through another year without any major meltdown. This year’s rankings might not be that exciting, but I’m guessing that most firms and lawyers are fine with that.

Have some insights on your firm’s financial performance last year? Drop us a line, by email or by text message (646-820-8477).

The 2017 Am Law 100 (portal page) [American Lawyer]
OVERVIEW: Choppy Seas [American Lawyer]

Earlier: The 2016 Am Law 100: Trouble Ahead?
The 2015 Am Law 100: Revenues Rising, Profits Popping, And A New #1 Firm
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


DBL square headshotDavid Lat is the founder and managing editor of Above the Law and the author of Supreme Ambitions: A Novel. He previously worked as a federal prosecutor in Newark, New Jersey; a litigation associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; and a law clerk to Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. You can connect with David on Twitter (@DavidLat), LinkedIn, and Facebook, and you can reach him by email at dlat@abovethelaw.com.