April 26, 2022

All The Billion-Dollar Biglaw Firms: A Look At The Am Law 100 - Above the Law

We know that despite the turmoil of COVID, Biglaw has done pretty well for itself over they last few years, see, e.g., the fire lateral market. But we haven’t quantified just how good 2021 was. Enter the Am Law 100.

The latest ranking from ALM takes the top 100 Biglaw firms and ranks them by gross revenue. The highlights from the report reveal there were a TON of Biglaw firms raking in the dough in 2021. Indeed, every — that’s right, ALL OF THE FIRMS — on the Am Law 100 had an increase in gross revenue in 2021 over 2020.

Plus, an impressive 52(!) Biglaw firms crossed over into the billion-dollar club, meaning they took in over a billion dollars in gross revenue in 2021. That is… a lot of firms. Here are those firms, in order of gross revenue:

  1. Kirkland
  2. Latham
  3. DLA Piper
  4. Baker McKenzie
  5. Skadden
  6. White & Case
  7. Sidley
  8. Ropes & Gray
  9. Hogan Lovells
  10. Morgan Lewis
  11. Gibson Dunn
  12. Jones Day
  13. Simpson Thacher
  14. Norton Rose
  15. Greenberg Traurig
  16. Cooley
  17. Goodwin Procter
  18. Davis Polk
  19. Paul Weiss
  20. Mayer Brown
  21. King & Spalding
  22. Sullivan & Cromwell
  23. Mc Dermott
  24. Quinn Emanuel
  25. Paul Hastings
  26. Covington
  27. Reed Smith
  28. Cleary Gottlieb
  29. Holland & Knight
  30. Milbank
  31. Dechert
  32. Wilson Sonsini
  33. Debevoise
  34. Orrick
  35. Wilmer
  36. Morrison & Foerster
  37. Akin Gump
  38. Wilkie
  39. K&L Gates
  40. Proskauer
  41. Perkins Come
  42. Winston & Strawn
  43. Squire Patton
  44. Wachtell
  45. Arnold & Porter
  46. Troutman Pepper
  47. Foley & Lardner
  48. Alston & Bird
  49. Shearman & Sterling
  50. Sheppard Mullin
  51. Cravath

You can check out the full ranking here.

For the fifth year in a row, Kirkland has stayed on top of the gross revenue mountain — taking in over $6 billion. In the number two spot, Latham made $5.4 billion in gross revenue. Overall, the top 100’s revenue went up 14.8 percent this year. Revenue per lawyer was up 12.5 percent (the top firm by that metric, by a healthy margin, is Wachtell) and profits per equity partner were up 19.4 percent (Wachtell also took the top spot in the PPEP ranks).

We will undoubtedly have even more to say as we dig into these numbers. But what’s clear is Biglaw had a very good year. Let’s see if they can keep it up.

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. 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).



source: https://abovethelaw.com/2022/04/all-the-billion-dollar-biglaw-firms-a-look-at-the-am-law-100/

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