Today, the American Lawyer released the back half of their annual Biglaw ranking. Last month, they spilled the financial details of the top 100 Biglaw firms, and now we find out what’s going on with the so-called Second Hundred, that is, firms ranked 101-200. First — the good news: In 2023, revenue for the Second Hundred climbed $1.4 billion over 2022, that’s a 5.9% increase. Of course, revenue was up for the Am Law 100 by 6.8% — but who’s counting? Oh, wait. All of us.
But, as Law.com reports, the gains made across several metrics show a widening gap between the top of Biglaw and the rest.
The Second Hundred’s collective revenue per lawyer ticked up 0.5% to $779,021 in 2023, while the Am Law 100 saw an RPL increase of 4.9%.
A similar theme plays out across profitability metrics. Average profits per equity partner (PEP) for the Second Hundred firms grew 0.9% collectively to $969,102. The Am Law 100 growth rate was almost 10 times that, at 9.3%.
Several other metrics, such as average compensation for all partners (CAP, -0.2%), value per lawyer (VPL, -2%) and profits per lawyer (PPL, -3.5%), were in the red for the Second Hundred. All of those metrics were over 6% growth for the Am Law 100. Profit margins for the Second Hundred were down 5.3%, from 38 to 36.
Oof, not great news for the industry, but which firms actually made out okay? These are the top five Second Hundred firms by gross revenue.
- Baker, Donelson: $461.13 million, up 11.7%
- Shook Hardy & Bacon: $459.5 million, up 1.1%
- Wilson Elser Moskowitz: $452.2 million, up 14.3%
- Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel: $435.2 million, up 3.3%
- Bradley Arant Boult Cummings: $424.7 million, up 8.3%
In the Profits per Equity Partner category, the top 5 Second Hundred firms are:
- Cahill Gordon & Reindel: $4.35 million, 7.8% over 2022
- Irell: $4.10 million, 8.4% over 2022
- Cole, Scott Kissane: $3.88 million -10% over 2022
- Choate Hall: $3.32 million, -0.3% over 2022
- Lowenstein: $2.75 million, -24% over 2022
In terms of revenue per lawyer, four Second Hundred firms had such a strong performance in the category they cracked the overall top 20 by that measure.
- Irell & Manella: RPL $2.23 million
- Munger, Tolles & Olson: RPL $1.72 million
- Choate Hall & Stewart: RPL $1.66 million
- Kobre Kim: RPL $1.66 million
There were also firms that fell from their previous performance.
Shook Hardy was No. 98 in last year’s rankings but drops four spots to No. 102 this year. The firm saw its revenue increase (up 1.1%), but not enough to save it from dropping. The other is Lowenstein Sandler. The firm was at No. 99 in last year’s rankings, but drops 12 spots this year to No. 111, joining the Am Law 200. Lowenstein saw its revenue slide down 13.2% last year (following a contingency fee recovery in 2022 that fueled its appearance in the 100).
And a few making their Am Law ranking debut.
Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian debuts at No. 107 with about $415 million in gross revenue last year.
New to the rankings this year are Freeman Mathis & Gary (No. 192), Bilzin Sumberg (No. 196), Rutan & Tucker (No. 199) and Chamberlain, Hrdicka, White, Williams & Aughtry (No. 200). Among the four, only Rutan & Tucker has previously been ranked in the Am Law 200 in the last decade.
Certainly some interesting developments in the world of Biglaw.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @Kathryn1@mastodon.social.
