Lucky Vidmar, the head of intellectual property and artificial intelligence law at Microsoft, has repeatedly faced off in federal court against the lawyers at Susman Godfrey in various IP disputes, including current battles over hundred-million-dollar copyright infringement disputes.
“I’m never on the same side as Susman Godfrey,” the Seattle-based associate general counsel wrote recently on LinkedIn. “But tonight, I stand with them and applaud their courageous and correct decision to uphold the core principles of our profession. Every lawyer licensed in the U.S. took an oath to uphold the rule of law. In the face of open threats to it, more of them should be like Susman and heed this sacred duty.”
Even as Susman Godfrey is engaged in a monumental federal court fight with President Donald Trump and the U.S. Department of Justice that court documents say threatens the law firm’s very existence, the Houston-based litigation powerhouse reported 2024 revenues and profits that are once again the envy of their competitors.
“We had a very good year — the second-best year in the firm’s history,” Susman Godfrey co-managing partner Vineet Bhatia told The Texas Lawbook. “It was hard to beat our 2023 numbers, but 2025 is off to an even better start.”
Susman Godfrey reported firmwide revenues in 2024 hit $528 million — $185 million of that generated by the firm’s Texas lawyers, according to new Texas Lawbook 50 data, which tracks the financial information of law firms operating in Texas.
Lawbook 50 data shows that the Houston firm has 115 of its 220 lawyers officing in Texas and revenue per Texas lawyer last year hitting $1.6 million and profits per partner at $4.1 million.
Bhatia said he did not have time to discuss further, explaining, “We have a few things going on.”
The understatement of the year.
On April 9, President Trump slapped Susman Godfrey with an executive order declaring the firm could be a threat to national security because it supports anti-American causes and clients, has used the legal system to undermine the elections and employs diversity programs that violate federal law. The order prohibits Susman Godfrey lawyers from representing clients that have government contracts and prevents anyone at the firm from entering federal buildings.
Susman Godfrey sued the president and won a temporary restraining order from a federal judge preventing the executive order from taking effect.
President Trump also issued similar executive orders against four other law firms — Perkins Coie, WilmerHale, Jenner & Block and Paul Weiss. While Perkins, WilmerHale and Jenner & Block have sued the Trump administration, the New York-based corporate M&A giant Paul Weiss chose to reach a settlement agreement with the White House in which the law firm agreed to perform $40 million of pro bono work approved by President Trump and the firm.
Paul Weiss said the president’s executive order “could have easily destroyed our firm” and that competitor law firms were actively using the government’s attack to try to steal its lawyers and clients.
Legal industry experts point out that Paul Weiss and other firms — Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, Simpson Thacher and Skadden Arps — that reached agreements with the White House are more known for their corporate transaction dealmaking.
By contrast, legal industry insiders point out that comments such as those from Microsoft’s associate general counsel, Vidmar, only brandish Susman Godfrey’s reputation as a fighter even against the most powerful forces in the world.
“No question that Susman Godfrey is one of the elite litigation practices in the U.S.,” said Kent Zimmermann, a law firm consultant for the Zeughauser Group. “But Susman’s reputation as a fearless advocate is only going to grow if they do battle with the president of the United States and they win.”
Susman Godfrey’s 2024 revenues of $528 million were down 29 percent from $744 million in 2023. In 2022, the firm recorded $374 million in revenues.
The extraordinary 2023 revenue number, which nearly doubled its 2022 revenues, was the result of a handful of large fee collections — “an alignment of the stars,” Bhatia called it in 2024.
The biggest and most profitable of those cases was the firm’s representation of Dominion Voting Systems, which reached a $787.5 million settlement agreement in 2023 in its defamation case against Fox News. That litigation is not over, as Susman Godfrey is still representing Dominion in defamation lawsuits against Newsmax, One America News Network (OAN), MyPillow executive Mike Lindell, Rudy Giuliani and Dallas lawyer Sidney Powell — all advocates of President Trump.
In its lawsuit against the Trump administration, Susman Godfrey contends that President Trump issued the executive order as revenge against the firm for representing clients and causes he does not like.
Susman Godfrey partner Justin Nelson of Houston is one of the lead lawyers for Dominion and is now representing Media Matters in its defamation litigation against Elon Musk and X Corp., which was previously known as Twitter.
Nelson is also one of the lead lawyers representing book authors in a potential landmark class action against California-based Anthropic alleging its artificial intelligence system Claude violated copyright infringement laws.
“Anthropic did what any teenager could tell you is illegal,” Nelson wrote in the lawsuit filed in the Northern District of California. “It intentionally downloaded known pirated copies of books from the internet, made unlicensed copies of them, and then used those unlicensed copies to digest and analyze the copyrighted expression-all for its own commercial gain.”
The lawsuit seeks compensation for the authors and injunctive relief that grants the authors the right of consent for Anthropic to use their writings.
Lawbook 50 data shows that 91 percent of Susman Godfrey revenues were the result of alternative fee arrangements.
In December, the firm promoted seven lawyers to partner, which brought the number of equity partners at Susman Godfrey to more than 100 for the first time in the firm’s 44-year history.
Susman Godfrey associates received year-end bonuses ranging from $110,000 to $260,000.
MORE: Susman Godfrey EO Litigation Timeline
Texas Firm Headcount Inched Up 1% in 2024
Stories Coming in May and June
- The top 50 law firms by revenue generated by their Texas lawyers. “The firm’s numbers are just eye-popping.”
- Three Texas Legacy Firms Grow East and West and Overseas.
- Annual revenues of the Texas legacy firms — in and outside of Texas.
- Firms from Five Cities (Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and New York) Battle for Texas Lawbook 50 Revenue Supremacy.