Since 2003, the Am Law top 50 has seen their average overall attorney headcount increase 51 %,
their average revenue per lawyer (RPL) increase 66 %, and their Profits per Equity Partner (PPEP) increase a whopping 124 %.
These combined factors had a negative impact on
average revenue per lawyer (RPL) and revenue per partner (RPP), which fell by 22 per cent and 10 per cent respectively.
Bingham saw City revenues rise by 11 % during the last calendar year to $ 54.7 m (# 36.6 m) compared with $ 49.1 m (# 32.9 m) in 2011, with around 50 lawyers clocking up
average revenue per lawyer of $ 1.158 m (# 776,000), compared to firmwide revenue per lawyer of $ 969,000 (# 649,800).
DLA's gross revenue rose 2.5 % in the last fiscal year, to a new high of $ 2.54 bn, while
average revenue per lawyer inched up 0.7 %, to $ 675,000.
Not exact matches
But because of growth in head count and a drop in demand, particularly in the corporate and finance sectors, profits
per partner (PPP) fell by 4.3 percent, to an
average of $ 1.26 million, and
revenue per lawyer (RPL) dropped 1.2 percent, to $ 818,000.
Average growth, meanwhile, was almost on a par with that seen in 2007 - 08 — shortly before Lehman's crash — and
revenue per lawyer figures based on these pre-audited results indicated that firms» cost - cutting initiatives were bearing fruit.
The 2018 Am Law 100, which looks at numbers from 2017, reports that gross
revenue grew 5.5 percent on
average, net income increased by 6.1 percent, profit
per equity partner grew by 6.3 percent,
revenue per lawyer moved up 3.2 percent, and headcount rose 2.2 percent.
But that
average gain of 1.2 %, coupled with similar increases in
revenue per lawyer and profits
per equity partner, masked some weakness in many firms» results.
For example, in the Aerospace and Defense category, the listed companies
average 4
lawyers per billion dollars in
revenue.
In 2008, though firm
lawyers logged thousands of hours in hectic bail - out related work, especially in the last quarter, the firm's
revenue was flat and
average profits
per equity partner fell 17 percent.
Our sample of 15 especially highly reputed firms (including the likes of Cravath, Skadden, and Sullivan) experienced an
average increase of only 2.9 % in
revenue per lawyer over the 5 - year period from 2007 - 12.