Biglaw

Behold: The First Firm To Crack $3 Billion In Revenue

That's a lot of billable hours.

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For any Biglaw firm interested in taking over the top spot in the Am Law 100, Latham & Watkins has thrown down the gauntlet: $3 billion in revenue.

The current #1 firm looks poised to reclaim the throne on the back of $3.064 billion in revenue in 2017, as reported by Law.com, on the back of a ~7 percent increase in attorney headcount. Profits per partner were also up at Latham to $3.25 million.

The firm’s management stressed there was a lot of strategic thinking that went into the accomplishment, and they’re poised to grow even more:

LeeAnn Black, the firm’s chief operating officer, said she plans to talk at an upcoming Latham partners’ meeting about how the firm accomplished its “1-2-3” punch of reaching the $1 billion revenue mark in 2003, the $2 billion mark in 2007, and now the $3 billion mark.

“It was a lot of strategic thought and effort and execution to actually get all the pieces in place,” Black said in an interview. “And now we have this wonderful opportunity in front of us to take advantage of it, and we’re starting to see significant benefits.”

London-based vice chair Richard Trobman agreed that the firm was poised to keep building on its recent growth: “We’re convinced that we’ve only begun to benefit from all the investment that we’ve put in over the years,” he said.

Financial data for Biglaw firms’ 2017 results is being collected by ALM in advance of their annual ranking. So far, nine other firms have entered the rarified air of the billion-dollar revenue club.

headshotKathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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