Despite ever-higher standards, more corporate law firms in Texas achieved Texas Lawbook 50 elite financial status last year than ever before.
Eighteen business law firms reported revenue per lawyer for their Texas offices of $1.5 million in 2024. Eighteen firms also scored profits per partner of $3 million or more — though not the same 18.
Thanks to scores of senior corporate lawyers now billing at hourly rates exceeding $2,000, 15 law firms operating in Texas achieved both of those criteria — up from 11 in 2023.
Only two of the 15 Lawbook 50 elite firms — Susman Godfrey and Vinson & Elkins — are headquartered in Texas.
The newcomers to the Lawbook 50 elite are Alston & Bird, Orrick, Paul Hastings and Willkie Farr.
Lawyers in the Texas offices of Kirkland & Ellis reclaimed the top spot for RPL in 2024 from Susman Godfrey, which recorded an astonishing record high $3.6 million in revenue per lawyer in 2023 due to multiple monumental contingency fee-based settlement victories. Susman Godfrey still easily made the Lawbook 50 elite in 2024, with a more down-to-Earth $1.6 million RPL.
Kirkland’s RPL jumped 22 percent in 2024 to $2.56 million. The firm, which reported $1.1 billion in Texas revenue last year, also hit a record high of $9.25 million in profits per partner last year — a jump of 16 percent from 2023.
The Texas Lawbook 50 measures the revenue and profits of lawyers in the Texas offices of law firms — be they headquartered in Texas or Chicago, New York or Los Angeles. When the Lawbook 50 debuted its elite financial lists in 2018, firms needed to report $1.2 million in RPL and $2.5 million in PPP.
Five law firms — Kirkland, Simpson Thacher, Latham & Watkins, Gibson Dunn and Paul Hastings — reached revenue per lawyer of $1.8 million or more.
Latham witnessed the largest increase in RPL at nearly 19 percent — from $1.65 million in 2023 to $1.95 million last year.
Four law firms — Kirkland, Simpson Thacher, Latham and Gibson Dunn — achieved profits per partner of $7 million or more. Paul Hastings barely missed the $7 million club with $6.7 million in PPP.
Four other law firms operating in Texas — King & Spalding, Susman Godfrey, Sidley Austin and Weil Gotshal — reported profits per partner of $5 million or more.
A handful of law firms barely missed the Lawbook 50 elite list cutoff, including Fish & Richardson, DLA Piper, O’Melveny & Myers, White & Case and Winston & Strawn.
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