Skaddenfreude: Wiley Rein Dethrones Wachtell Lipton as America's Most Profitable Biglaw
Let the wailing and gnashing of teeth begin. The AmLaw 100 rankings -- The American Lawyer's closely watched, annual listing of the hundred largest law firms in the United States, ranked by revenue -- are now available.
We'll have more to say on the rankings later. Their release is a big story, deserving of multiple posts. They're like the U.S. News and World Report law school rankings, but for the world of Biglaw, and they can be viewed from many different angles. Although the firms are ranked by revenue, the rankings are accompanied by other juicy data -- including information about profits per partner.
For the time being, here's the "money quote," quite literally, from the WSJ Law Blog:
Wiley Rein broke the record for the highest profits per partner ever recorded by the magazine — $4.4 million. Why? The Washington, D.C., law firm represented patent-holding company NTP in its nearly five-year legal battle with RIM, and earned more than $200 million in fees from the case. It received approximately one-third of the $612.5 million settlement that RIM agreed to pay NTP to avert a potential court-ordered BlackBerry shutdown. The firm also shortened its name from Wiley Rein & Fielding after Fred Fielding left the firm to become White House counsel.
So New York's Wachtell Lipton, which has sat atop the profits-per-partner rankings for many years, has been displaced. Interestingly enough, though, Wiley Rein didn't beat Wachtell by THAT much, considering the massive contingency fee it received from the RIM-BlackBerry settlement. Wiley Rein had PPP of $4,435,000; Wachtell Lipton had PPP of $3,975,000.
(And if you look at the chart for Compensation -- All Partners (subscription), WLRK still comes out on top, with $3.975 million per partner. Wiley Rein has a two-tier partnership, so its Compensation Per Partner figure, which reflects compensation paid to non-equity as well as equity partners, is only -- only! -- $2.7 million.)
The Wiley Rein windfall reminds of when Robins Kaplan got that huge, one-time payout for its tobacco-related work. In the AmLaw 100 rankings for 2000, based on 1999 revenue and profit figures, the Minneapolis-based firm boasted profits per partner of over $3 million -- beating Cravath and all the other New York shops that year, except for Wachtell.
Do you have any juicy, AmLaw 100-related gossip? Tales of shameless attempts to manipulate the rankings? Stories about unhappy partners ranting over their firm's placement over this morning's coffee? Please send 'em our way.
A table and links, after the jump.
Lessons of The Am Law 100 [The American Lawyer]
Behind the Numbers: Am Law 100 trends and analysis [The American Lawyer]
Partner Profits Soar [The American Lawyer (subscription)]
Hot Off the Presses: The AmLaw 100 [WSJ Law Blog]
(41) Comments
I refuse to work at any firm not in the AMLaw 10 billion.
where is the list? a link?
And still only a $25K clerkship bonus. . .
Track back to the ALM homepage to get the the link. you have to register for it.
S&C is on the decline - falling back from 11 to number 13! Not even sniffing at the Top Ten! First Charney, now this! It's the end!!! Run for your lives!!!
How about a post of the RPL and PPP from 1-100? The website only gives top tens with registration.
Quinn broke into the Amlaw 100 from the Amlaw 200 this year.
who cares? does any of this mean that our country and world is no longer going to s*it?
12:43 are you on crack? s&c had ppp at 2.8 million, behind only wachtell and cravath in nyc.. a 17% increase.
Can someone copy the top 100 list as a comment here?
Wiley is giving a $35k clerkship bonus now.
'06 '05 Name Gross Change
1 1 Skadden $1,850,000,000 14.90%
2 2 Latham & Watkins $1,624,000,000 15.00%
3 3 Baker & McKenzie $1,522,000,000 12.60%
4 4 Jones Day $1,310,000,000 1.90%
5 5 Sidley Austin $1,246,500,000 10.90%
6 6 White & Case $1,185,000,000 13.30%
7 9 Kirkland & Ellis $1,145,000,000 18.00%
8 8 Mayer, Brown $1,084,000,000 10.60%
9 7 Weil, Gotshal $1,050,000,000 3.30%
10 12 Greenberg Traurig $1,040,500,000 20.90%
11 10 DLA Piper US1 $1,016,000,000 14.10%
12 16 Morgan, Lewis $922,000,000 14.60%
13 11 Sullivan & Cromwell $900,000,000 8.30%
14 14 Wilmer $897,000,000 10.10%
15 15 O’Melveny & Myers $869,000,000 7.60%
16 17 McDermott Will $860,000,000 7.60%
17 13 Shearman & Sterling $842,000,000 0.80%
18 23 Paul, Hastings $813,500,000 22.00%
19 18 Cleary Gottlieb $813,000,000 7.00%
20 19 Gibson, Dunn $809,000,000 8.40%
21 20 Simpson Thacher $801,000,000 10.20%
22 22 Morrison & Foerster $774,000,000 12.70%
23 21 Hogan & Hartson $755,000,000 7.90%
24 29 Dechert $729,000,000 26.30%
25 24 Akin Gump $726,500,000** 17.60%
26 27 Bingham McCutchen $686,000,000 15.70%
27 25 Foley & Lardner $668,000,000 9.40%
28 35 Orrick $666,000,000 20.20%
29 26 Davis Polk $650,000,000 7.50%
30 33 Reed Smith $644,000,000 14.50%
31 34 Ropes & Gray $616,000,000 10.40%
32 28 Holland & Knight $614,000,000 5.60%
33 31 Winston & Strawn $612,000,000 7.20%
34 36 Fulbright & Jaworski $602,500,000 11.80%
35 32 Paul, Weiss $594,000,000 5.50%
36 38 King & Spalding $582,500,000 13.20%
37 30 Pillsbury Winthrop $579,500,000 1.00%
38 37 Debevoise & Plimpton $575,000,000 7.40%
39 42 Cadwalader $556,000,000 15.10%
40 40 Cravath $550,000,000 9.90%
41 43 Hunton & Williams $546,500,000 15.10%
42 41 Milbank, Tweed $541,000,000 9.10%
43 39 Vinson & Elkins $532,000,000 4.30%
44 47 Proskauer Rose $514,500,000 13.50%
45 51 LeBoeuf, Lamb $513,500,000 16.70%
46 43 Heller Ehrman $507,000,000 6.70%
47 53 Goodwin Procter $506,000,000 21.90%
48 52 Baker Botts $502,500,000 15.70%
49 49 Willkie Farr $502,000,000 13.30%
50 45 Kirkpatrick & Lockhart $499,000,000 6.40%
51 46 Arnold & Porter $475,000,000 2.00%
52 49 Wachtell $474,000,000 7.00%
53 59 Fried, Frank $470,500,000 20.60%
54 55 Squire, Sanders $465,500,000 13.50%
55 57 Alston & Bird $462,000,000 17.00%
56 54 Wilson Sonsini $460,000,000 11.70%
57 48 Sonnenschein $459,500,000 2.60%
58 61 Howrey $457,000,000 18.90%
59 62 Kaye Scholer $426,000,000 11.10%
60 60 Katten Muchin $420,500,000 8.80%
61 56 Bryan Cave $411,000,000 3.10%
62 58 Dewey Ballantine $408,500,000 4.10%
63 63 Covington & Burling $408,000,000 7.40%
64 140 Wiley Rein $407,000,000** 169.50%
65 64 Nixon Peabody $392,500,000 5.90%
66 66 Seyfarth Shaw $391,500,000 16.30%
67 65 McGuireWoods $387,500,000 13.60%
68 67 Schulte Roth $369,000,000 15.00%
69 69 Perkins Coie $356,500,000 12.10%
70 71 Duane Morris $336,500,000 15.80%
71 70 Cooley Godward $335,000,000 12.40%
72 68 Dorsey & Whitney
$329,500,000 3.50%
73 72 Jenner & Block $320,000,000 11.30%
74 83 Troutman Sanders $307,500,000 23.50%
75 74 Edwards Angell $305,000,000 9.50%
76 77 Sheppard, Mullin $301,000,000 14.00%
77 73 Baker & Hostetler $300,000,000 5.60%
78 109 Quinn Emanuel $298,000,000** 54.00%
79 78 Steptoe & Johnson $293,500,000 13.50%
80 84 Fish & Richardson $286,500,000 16.20%
81 76 Blank Rome $284,000,000 6.80%
82 80 Dickstein Shapiro $281,000,000 9.10%
82 85 Shook, Hardy $281,000,000 14.20%
84 79 Stroock & Stroock $275,000,000 6.60%
85 88 Finnegan, Henderson $272,000,000** 15.70%
86 109 Buchanan Ingersoll $271,500,000 40.30%
87 86 Venable $268,500,000 12.10%
88 82 Kilpatrick Stockton $266,000,000 6.20%
89 87 Womble Carlyle $265,500,000 11.60%
90 81 Wilson Elser $265,000,000 3.90%
91 89 Kramer Levin $262,000,000 12.90%
92 94 Cahill Gordon $260,500,000 13.80%
92 91 Mintz, Levin $260,500,000 13.30%
94 97 Sutherland Asbill $259,500,000 16.90%
95 90 Pepper Hamilton $259,000,000 12.10%
96 97 Patton Boggs $255,500,000 15.10%
97 92 Chadbourne & Parke $254,000,000 10.70%
98 92 Faegre & Benson $248,000,000 8.10%
99 96 Drinker Biddle $246,000,000 10.30%
100 102 Ballard Spahr $243,000,000 13.80%
Does anyone have the profits-per-partner list they could post?
Why such a small % increase from the NY firms, such as S&C, Davis, Cravath, Cleary, etc.?
Rank By Profits Per Partner Firm Rank By Number of Lawyers 2006 Profits Per Partner Change in Profits Per Partner From 2005 Lawyers Equity Partners
1 Wiley Rein* 98 $4,435,000 465.0% 268 61
2 Wachtell 100 $3,975,000 4.9% 193 77
3 Cravath 85 $3,015,000 16.0% 406 87
4 Cadwalader* 61 $2,900,000 13.9% 555 76
5 Sullivan & Cromwell 56 $2,820,000 17.0% 575 164
6 Cahill Gordon* 99 $2,575,000 12.7% 242 63
7 Paul, Weiss 57 $2,495,000 0.8% 573 109
7 Simpson Thacher 43 $2,495,000 5.3% 667 162
9 Quinn Emanuel* 96 $2,430,000 27.6% 292 68
10 Kirkland & Ellis* 11 $2,270,000 7.1% 1,104 212
12:43, you are a moron.
1:48 - yeah, dude, 12:43 is right. You better get out of there now.
You are looking at revenues, which is skewed by headcounts. Many NY firms had lower headcount and still up 10+% in revenues.
I heard S&C is in danger of falling out of the Top 15 in 2008
Anon 1:57, does the hike in Wiley Rein's bonus apply to clerks joining the firm this fall ('07)?
Sorry i'm new at this stuff... can someone explain the differences between the list in the 2:01 post and the 2:17 post?
Please, please, please tell me that you're not serious.
3:10. Seriously, get out of my room. Don't say sorry, don't look around for approval, you're not getting it. Just get out.
3:10 - If you don't know, can't figure it out, or lack the inclination to learn on your own - in other words, if you are looking here for help - do not get in this game. You are a dumb and tasty salmon, driven by unexamined instinct to swim obliviously upstream, where only death awaits you. The metrics above (overall revenue, PPP, PEP, etc) are only relevant to grizzly bears. No shame: the natural balance of firms and forest necessitate that there be more salmon than bears. But you are not a grizzly bear.
i be you're hairy like a grizzly bear aren't yah?? mmmmmmm
12:43 and 2:21.. you guys are beyond idiotic.
your logic would have it that wachtell is a crap firm because it "fell" out of the top 50. s&c has a fraction of the number of lawyers as the other large firms that place above it in revenue. far more interesting is the profits per partner. s&c saw growth of 17% in the past year. you guys are so biased and desperate to be pro-charney that you come off sounding like morons.
3:10-
First post is profits per partner. Doesn't distinguish between equity and non-equity partners. Non-equity partners generally get a flat salary + share of the business they bring in. Equity partners are the ones who really own the firm and share the firm's profits as a whole (usually with complex formula that take into account the work they brought in).
Second post is profits per equity partner. This is the number most people focus on, because everybody wants to be an equity partner.
bet rather
Ummm no. First post is total firm profit. 11 firms have $1b+ profit. Skadden's PPP isn't $1.85 bil.
3:34, it's not $1B+ profit, it's $1B+ revenue.
Anon 2:50: yes, it applies to clerks starting this fall.
Am I the only one who thought upon reading 12:43 & 2:21 that it was completely obvious that they were joking? Geez.
I should have actually read the numbers before posting. Oh well.
3:28 is the idiot. Yes that was SARCASM being used in my previous posts. Ask your secretary to explain it to you. Sorry to get you all worked up for nothing.
Also, you guys are just brutal on 3:10. I assume you are the same pathetic turds who were confused by my posts at 12:43 and 2:21.
amazed-
obviously they were joking, but whoever at S&C read their posts got offended and had to take a bite....only goes to show that S&C partners reading this are a bit nervous.
Hey, not bad - Wiley Rein made scads of money through what was basically a legal highway robbery/hostage scenario of RIM by a passive patent holding company which had no assets other than a few questionable patents.
How do these guys sleep at night? Oh, wait - they're Biglaw; they don't have to worry about sleep.
how do you sleep at night?
"on top of a pile of money surrounded by many beautiful women"
I know it's off topic... but some funny monica goodling stuff is here:
http://www.eagleionline.com/blog/
ATL should tart working on its own reader input top list of lawfirms. To compete with the Vault one and Leiter and AmLaw.
Nice McBain quote!
Since 1974 Corboy and Demetrio (a Chicago PI firm) has over 500 verdicts/settlements in excess of a million dollars. Many over 25, and a handful over 100. Joe Jamail, Dickie Scruggs, and Robert Clifford (not to mention Philip Corboy, Gerry Spence, Joseph Power, and a handful of others) make double or three times 4 mil/yr. on a regular basis. Of course AM Law doesn't cover this sector -- thus the false impression that BigLaw corporate lawyers are the richest lawyers in America.