Today we have the AmLaw 100 ranked by Revenue per Lawyer, one of
my favorite metrics.  Why one of my favorites?  First of
all, it provides insight into the extent to which a firm actually
achieves the Holy Grail sought by all—to do a larger proportion
of "premium," money-is-no-object, work.  Everyone
claims to be focused on that magical realm, but the  numbers
don’t lie. 

And speaking of "numbers not lying," that’s the second reason this
is one of my favorite metrics:  It’s a lot harder to game total
revenue and number of lawyers than it is to game profitability.  This
strikes me as a pretty hard number, all things considered.

So what do we see?  Some firms
clearly fall into the territory of [Revenue per Lawyer] ~ {[average
hourly rate] x 2,000}, which reveals a lot.  At
the other extreme, the New York "bulge bracket" firms (Cravath, Davis
Polk, Paul-Weiss, Simpson Thacher, Sullivan & Cromwell) generate
over $1-million/year in revenue per lawyer, which means they’re by
no means charging it all on the clock.

And then of course there’s the predictable, perennial, stand-out
#1 leader, Wachtell, at nearly $2.4-million on this metric, over
47% higher
than the second-place firm, Sullivan & Cromwell,
at $1.63-million.

Only eight firms in total are over $1-million on this score, although
Skadden and Shearman & Sterling missed that arbitrary cutoff by less
than $10,000 (I rounded the numbers to the nearest $1,000 in the
table that follows).

Bringing up the rear is Wilson Elser at $329,000, and smack at the
median point is LeBoeuf Lamb at $719,000. 

The most interesting point to me?  The relative flatness of
the distribution from #10 to #90.  Sure, it covers a range of
$500,000 to $1,000,000, but the steep parts of the curve are at the
beginning and the end.  Moral of the story:  It’s very
very hard to excel, and by the same token you probably need to be
doing a number of things very poorly to end up on the dog-house tail.

Keep reading to see the whole chart. 

And later
this weekend, I promise further analysis from
a friend who is a retired finance executive of a major US bank,
now a student of the legal industry, who sees some parallels
between our industry and banking, so plan to stop back at "Adam
Smith, Esq."

2005 Rank
2004 Rank
Firm
2005 Gross Revenue
Change From 2004
Lawyers
Revenue per Lawyer
49
44
Wachtell $443,000,000 2.80% 185 $2,395,000
11
10
Sullivan & Cromwell $875,000,000 5.00% 538 $1,627,000
40
37
Cravath $500,500,000 10.00% 391 $1,281,000
26
23
Davis Polk $604,500,000 0.00% 529 $1,143,000
20
19
Simpson Thacher $727,000,000 5.20% 647 $1,124,000
32
30
Paul, Weiss $563,000,000 11.70% 546 $1,032,000
19
18
Gibson, Dunn $746,000,000 7.60% 738 $1,011,000
41
43
Milbank, Tweed $496,000,000 14.90% 494 $1,005,000
1
1
Skadden $1,610,000,000 11.80% 1,616 $997,000
13
11
Shearman & Sterling $835,000,000 7.70% 842 $992,000
9
9
Kirkland & Ellis $970,000,000 16.20% 983 $987,000
7
8
Weil, Gotshal $1,016,500,000 11.90% 1,066 $954,000
42
46
Cadwalader $483,000,000 16.10% 514 $940,000
37
34
Debevoise & Plimpton $535,500,000 11.90% 579 $925,000
18
17
Cleary Gottlieb $760,000,000 9.40% 833 $913,000
94
85
Cahill Gordon $229,000,000 0.90% 254 $902,000
59
59
Fried, Frank $390,000,000 8.60% 438 $891,000
2
3
Latham & Watkins $1,412,500,000 17.10% 1,615 $875,000
67
69
Seyfarth Shaw $321,000,000 9.90% 371 $866,000
49
46
Willkie Farr $443,000,000 6.50% 516 $859,000
88
86
Finnegan, Henderson $235,000,000 4.70% 277 $849,000
14
12
Wilmer Cutler $815,000,000 8.60% 964 $846,000
34
49
Ropes & Gray $558,000,000 37.90% 664 $841,000
15
16
O’Melveny & Myers $808,000,000 15.90% 977 $828,000
46
39
Arnold & Porter $465,500,000 2.50% 571 $816,000
43
35
Heller Ehrman $475,000,000 0.60% 590 $806,000
84
87
Fish & Richardson $246,500,000 9.80% 306 $806,000
62
58
Kaye Scholer $383,500,000 5.90% 478 $803,000
89
103
Kramer Levin $232,000,000 18.40% 290 $800,000
27
26
Bingham McCutchen $593,000,000 4.90% 750 $791,000
39
37
Vinson & Elkins $510,000,000 12.10% 645 $791,000
80
102
Dickstein Shapiro $257,500,000 30.70% 329 $783,000
58
53
Dewey Ballantine $392,500,000 3.20% 502 $782,000
79
79
Stroock & Stroock $258,000,000 8.40% 330 $782,000
24
21
Akin Gump $618,000,000 1.00% 794 $779,000
5
5
Sidley Austin $1,124,000,000 9.20% 1,454 $774,000
17
13
McDermott Will $799,500,000 7.30% 1,034 $774,000
63
64
Covington & Burling $380,000,000 12.60% 491 $774,000
35
33
Orrick $554,000,000 14.50% 723 $767,000
23
22
Paul, Hastings $667,000,000 9.50% 871 $766,000
54
54
Wilson Sonsini $412,000,000 9.10% 548 $752,000
78
82
Steptoe & Johnson $258,500,000 11.20% 344 $752,000
8
7
Mayer, Brown $980,000,000 7.60% 1,307 $750,000
53
67
Goodwin Procter $415,000,000 37.20% 554 $750,000
100
103
Hughes Hubbard $218,000,000 11.20% 292 $747,000
47
51
Proskauer Rose $453,500,000 14.80% 609 $745,000
21
20
Hogan & Hartson $700,000,000 11.10% 953 $735,000
22
24
Morrison & Foerster $687,000,000 15.90% 935 $735,000
72
74
Jenner & Block $287,500,000 13.40% 393 $732,000
70
70
Cooley Godward $298,000,000 3.10% 413 $722,000
51
60
LeBoeuf, Lamb $440,000,000 23.40% 612 $719,000
31
29
Winston & Strawn $571,000,000 10.60% 796 $718,000
61
61
Howrey $384,500,000 9.20% 540 $713,000
75
78
Thelen Reid $278,000,000 15.80% 392 $710,000
77
83
Sheppard, Mullin $264,000,000 14.80% 372 $710,000
29
40
Dechert $577,000,000 30.70% 823 $702,000
52
45
Baker Botts $434,500,000 3.50% 624 $697,000
16
14
Morgan, Lewis $804,500,000 11.20% 1,176 $685,000
25
28
Foley & Lardner $610,500,000 12.50% 892 $685,000
10
25
Piper Rudnick $890,500,000 1,303 $684,000
38
36
King & Spalding $514,500,000 5.80% 755 $682,000
48
48
Sonnenschein $448,000,000 9.00% 662 $677,000
60
57
Katten Muchin $386,500,000 5.00% 577 $670,000
30
42
Pillsbury Winthrop $574,000,000 32.70% 862 $666,000
12
15
Greenberg Traurig $860,500,000 20.90% 1,334 $646,000
36
32
Fulbright & Jaworski $539,000,000 9.70% 858 $629,000
92
77
Chadbourne & Parke $229,500,000 -4.80% 368 $624,000
33
31
Reed Smith $562,500,000 11.70% 913 $617,000
55
52
Squire, Sanders $410,000,000 4.20% 680 $603,000
4
4
Jones Day $1,285,000,000 8.00% 2,136 $602,000
95
90
Andrews Kurth $225,000,000 3.70% 374 $602,000
64
62
Nixon Peabody $373,500,000 7.30% 622 $601,000
6
6
White & Case $1,046,000,000 9.80% 1,744 $600,000
57
50
Alston & Bird $395,000,000 -1.60% 661 $598,000
90
96
Pepper Hamilton $231,000,000 10.30% 387 $597,000
43
41
Hunton & Williams $475,000,000 8.00% 798 $596,000
97
107
Sutherland Asbill $222,000,000 18.40% 374 $594,000
71
72
Duane Morris $290,500,000 10.00% 490 $593,000
86
89
Venable $239,500,000 8.10% 407 $589,000
91
91
Mintz, Levin $230,000,000 6.20% 391 $589,000
74
117
Edwards Angell $278,500,000 485 $575,000
69
68
Perkins Coie $318,000,000 7.10% 555 $573,000
76
76
Blank Rome $266,000,000 7.50% 468 $569,000
68
65
Dorsey & Whitney $318,500,000 -3.50% 563 $566,000
45
55
Kirkpatrick & Lockhart $469,000,000 25.90% 837 $561,000
97
93
Patton Boggs $222,000,000 4.20% 401 $554,000
82
80
Kilpatrick Stockton $250,500,000 6.10% 455 $551,000
96
92
Drinker Biddle $223,000,000 4.40% 408 $547,000
56
55
Bryan Cave $398,500,000 7.00% 733 $544,000
66
66
Seyfarth Shaw $336,500,000 7.50% 633 $532,000
85
75
Shook, Hardy $246,000,000 -2.60% 471 $523,000
92
99
Faegre & Benson $229,500,000 12.20% 449 $512,000
65
63
McGuireWoods $341,000,000 -0.90% 674 $506,000
28
27
Holland & Knight $581,500,000 5.50% 1,168 $498,000
83
97
Troutman Sanders $249,000,000 20.60% 501 $498,000
87
81
Womble Carlyle $238,000,000 2.10% 505 $472,000
73
71
Baker & Hostetler $284,000,000 0.00% 605 $470,000
99
98
Cozen O’Connor $220,500,000 7.30% 482 $458,000
3
2
Baker & McKenzie $1,352,000,000 10.10% 2,984 $454,000
81
88
Wilson Elser $255,000,000 14.90% 777 $329,000

 

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