Summary: Revenue at the largest top 100 law firms increased by 4.3 percent from 2012 to 2013 due to mergers and acquisitions between firms.
Record earnings were posted by some of the largest 100 law firms because of corporate mergers and acquisitions, according to The New York Times.
In 2013, the top law firms brought in $88.7 billion in revenue, which is an increase of 4.3 percent from 2012.
The new list has 30 megafirms on it that collected more than $1 billion in revenue. This is compared to just 16 firms that collected that revenue five years ago.
Norton Rose is on the list even after it merged with Fulbright & Jaworski to form Norton Rose Fulbright. The combined firm had revenue just under $2 billion last year. Baker & McKenzie took home $2.54 billion in revenue last year, which is a five-percent increase from 2012.
The fastest-growing spot on the new list is occupied by Simpson Thacher & Bartlett after seeing a revenue increase of 15 percent over the last year.
Milton C. Regan Jr. is a professor at Georgetown University Law Center. Regan said, “It used to be that lawyers who worked on tax shelters were viewed as second class, but the consensus within the tax bar has eroded somewhat, and many lawyers are willing to be much more aggressive because most firms see the market for legal services is flat.”
One of the best measures of law firm revenue is that of equity profits per partner. This increased by 5.4 percent from 2012 at the top performing firms on the list. Profits per partner hit $1.6 million at the firms on the list.
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