Legal News

Money-Center Law Firms Rake in the Dough

By Nathan Koppel

It’s time to cue “Empire State of Mind,” as New York, it appears, has reaffirmed its status as the power center of the legal universe.

Firms that cater to Wall Street saw their profits rise last year, and occasionally soar, while AmLaw 100 firms outside of Gotham had more mixed result, The AmLaw Daily reports.

So, how well did the New York shops do last year?

Paul Weiss saw its average per-partner profits rise 15 percent, to $3.05 million. “We had an extraordinary yea,” chairman Brad Karp told Am Law Daily

Cleary Gottlieb had an 18% spike in average profits, to $2.6 million. Simpson Thacher; Skadden; Davis Polk, and Willkie Farr also did well, with average partner profits in the $2.1 million to $2.6 million range.

But at some of the firms, fewer lawyers got to share in the spoils. Increased profitability for several firms–Skadden, Davis Polk, and Willkie Farr–was accompanied by a drop in the partner ranks, AmLaw Daily reports.

Lest we engage in too much New York exceptionalism, we note that profitability declined at Shearman & Sterling and Weil Gotshal & Manges, according to AmLaw. Shearman’s average partner profits dipped 8 percent last year to $1.56 million and Weil saw average partner profits decline 2 percent, to $2.26 million.

Shearman’s senior partner Rohan Weerasinghe told AmLaw Daily that the decline could be attributed to a number of big deals that haven’t closed yet. “We’re going into 2011 with a strong pipeline,” he said.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on March 15, 2011 (boomark / email).