More law firms in Texas scored revenues per lawyer of $1 million or more in 2019 than ever before.
New Texas Lawbook 50 data shows that 23 law firms with offices in Texas hit the seven-digit mark for RPL last year – up from 17 in 2018.
Revenues per lawyer is a data point American Lawyer first published about four decades ago. Law firm financial consultants consider RPL the purest of all numbers in gauging the economic healthiness of a corporate law firm.
Other data points, such as profits per partner, are easily manipulated by reclassifying the partnership into equity and non-equity members. RPL is a simple figure: total revenues divided by the full-time equivalency lawyer count.
The average revenue per lawyer for The Texas Lawbook 50 was $1,007,829 in 2019 – up from $974,882 in 2018. In 2015, it was $744,000.
Kirkland & Ellis and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher tied for the highest RPL: $1.65 million.
Five additional corporate law firms – Simpson Thacher; Latham & Watkins; Fish & Richardson; Weil, Gotshall & Manges; and Paul Hastings – had RPLs of $1.3 million or more.
Texas Lawbook data also found that:
- Only three of the 23 law firms – Akin Gump; Baker Botts and Vinson & Elkins – with RPLs of $1 million or more are based in Texas.
- Eight law firms – Gibson Dunn, Fish & Richardson, Orrick, Baker Botts, Katten Muchin, Norton Rose Fulbright, Baker McKenzie and Baker Hostetler – increased their RPL by double digit percentages in Texas.
- Forty-two of the top 50 law firms increased revenues per lawyer in 2019, according to The Texas Lawbook data research.
- Nine law firms – Gibson Dunn, Fish, Paul Hastings, Orrick, Baker Botts, Norton Rose Fulbright, Katten, Baker McKenzie and Baker Hostetler – increased their actual RPL by $100,000 or more in 2019.
- Four law firms – Jones Day, AZA, Mayer Brown and Foley – are on the verge of joining the seven-digit RPL club by having $900,000 or more.
- Only one law firm – Baker Botts – previously hit the $1 million RPL mark (2015. 2016 and 2017), only to drop below the target in 2018 and then achieve it again in 2019.
- Winston & Strawn, Norton Rose Fulbright and Baker McKenzie increased their revenues per lawyer of 40% or more between 2015 and 2019.
- Eight additional law firms – Gibson Dunn; Weil, Gotshal & Manges; McDermott; Norton Rose Fulbright; Foley; McGuire Woods; Porter Hedges; Haynes and Boone; and Bell Nunnally – increased their RPL by 20% or more over the past five years.