A law firm is a commercial entity founded by one or more lawyers to practise law. A law firm’s principal duty is to advise clients (individuals or businesses) about their legal rights and duties, as well as to represent clients in civil or criminal lawsuits, business transactions, and other matters requiring legal advice and other help.
Law firms are divided into many factors like yearly revenue, number of people working in the firm and number of cases the firms have worked with.
Some firms strictly work in their own countries while others are multi-site
In this article we have jotted down top 15 firms based on the gross revenue and the number of projects.
Kirkland & Ellis
Kirkland & Ellis is a law firm founded in Chicago, Illinois and is the biggest law firm in the whole world by the gross revenue and is seventh biggest by the number of lawyers.
They are an international law firm with different range of clients in private sector, Mergers, and acquisitions (M&A) and other corporate transactions, litigation, white collar and government disputes, restructurings, and intellectual property issues.
With more than 3,000 attorneys on board, this US based law firm generated the revenue of 4.83 billion USD. The firm has a profit of 7,388,000$ per equity partner and the revenue generated per lawyer is $1997000. Boeing, Delta Airlines, General Motors, and Dow Chemical are among the firm’s notable clients.
Latham & Watkins
Latham & Watkins LLP is the second largest law firm in the world on the basis of revenue. Founded in 1934 in Los Angeles, California. They have a total of 28 offices located across Asia, Europe, The middle East, and USA.
Their major practice areas include General corporate, mergers & acquisitions, banking and finance, litigation against actions to mitigate climate change. Also dubbed as the “A-List All-Star” it is one of the only 3 firms to appear on the A-List every year since its inception in 2003.
One of their major deals is the recent $4.25 billion acquisition of Chelsea Football club.
They have over 3000 attorneys and generate a revenue of $4.3 billion. It is also one of the most profitable law firms in the world, with the profit per partner exceeding $4.5 million. Slack Technologies, MGM, Nestlé USA, and Chevron are some of their clients.
DLA Piper
DLA piper was started in London, United Kingdoms. And within time it spread out in 40 countries throughout the Europe, America, the middle east Asia, and Asia pacific.
DLA piper significantly grew after a mega-merge of multiple law firms in 2005.
Headquarters of DLA piper is in both London and Chicago, and currently it is ranked 3rd globally. The total number of attorneys working under this firm are around 4000 and the total revenue generated exceeds 3.4 billion.
The revenue per lawyer is around $862,000 and it is only increasing per year. They participate mainly in the sectors regarding education, insurance, technology, and government contracting.
Some of the notable clients of the firm are Samsung venture investment, Pluto VR, HP, doc.ai, Artiman etc.
Dentons
Dentons is the largest multinational law firm in the world by the number of employees and ranks 4th according to the revenue.
It was formed in 2013, fruition of the merger of SNR Denton, Fraser Milner Casgrain and Salans, followed by the merger with Dacheng inn 2015.
It practices in a plethora of areas and is ranked Tier 1 in 17 practice areas like digital economy, competitive law, Private wealth, Intellectual property, Real estate etc.
Dentons operates in 80+ countries throughout the world with over 190 offices. The headcount for the lawyers exceeds 11,000, overtaking Baker McKenzie and DLA piper, the previous largest firms by at least 3,500 headcounts.
Dentons generated a gross revenue of $2.9 billion in fiscal year 2021, with the profit per equity partner being well over $1 million
Some of the notable clients of Dentons include StatKraft, Oil search, Unilever, Cura Partners etc.
Baker McKenzie
This international law firm is based in Chicago, Illinois. The firm was founded in 1949 and currently has 77 offices around 46 countries.
The number of attorneys working under the firm are around 4800, part of the grand total of 13,000 employees, who generates the gross revenue of $3.1 billion as per 2021.
Their expertise lies in consumer goods and retail, Energy, mining and infrastructure, Financial Institutions, Heathcare and life sciences, Private equity, Media and telecommunication etc.
The notable achievement of the firm includes the advisory on the world’s biggest Hydrogen Production and storage project, Export Finance deal of the year, Mining deal of the year and Oil and Gas deal of the year for fiscal year 2022.
Some of their major clients include Citibank, Mantos Copper, Metrobal.
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom
This is and America based multinational law firm with headquarter in New York city. It was founded in 1948 and has been among the list of top firms by revenue from many years now.
The company has total number of 22 offices spread across the globe with 1700 attorneys.
The major practice area of the firm includes transactions, litigation, or controversy and regulatory.
The firm makes the gross revenue of 2.66 billion. The firm provides advice to businesses, financial institutions, and government bodies all across the world.
Sidley Austin
Sidley Austin was founded in 1866 by Norman Williams, John leverett and Thompson and in Chicago.
Sidley Austin LLP is among the largest law firms in revenue. With more than 2000 lawyers in 20 offices around the globe, the company has a gross revenue of 2.46 billion USD.
The headquarter of the firm is at I=One South Dearborn in Chicago.
They specialize in many areas in both litigation and corporate practices like corporate finances, regulatory and government affairs, employment, and tax law.
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP is an American multinational law firm founded in 1873, it is the largest firm chaired by a woman and represents over three-fourths of Fortune 100 companies.
Their major practice areas include Corporate Law, Labor and Employment, Litigation, Regulatory, Intellectual Property, Energy and Environmental, Financial services, Healthcare and life sciences, Retail and E-commerce, Technology.
Operating in Asia, Europe, North America and the middle east, this firm has over 30 offices and 2000+ attorneys, generating a revenue of $2.45 billion, thus placing it 8th on the ranking of largest law firms by revenue.
Having operated for about one and a half century now, it is one of the most trusted law firms in the world. Apart from representing 75% of fortune 100 companies, they have also represented many POTUS candidates in past like Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, John Kerry, and Al Gore.
White & Case
White and Case LLP is a prestigious multinational legal company headquartered in New York City. It was founded in 1901 by Justin DuPratt white ad George B. Case.
This firm currently has 46 offices in 31 countries across the world. And is on the list of top 10 firms by revenue.
The headquarter of the firm is in Tampa. White and case has more than 2,000 attorneys currently.
The reported gross revenue of the firm in 2021 were $2.8 billion and the profit per equity partner is around $3.51 million, which is a jump by 17% since 2020.
Although White & Case LLP is best recognised for its work in developing markets and sovereign debt issuance, the London capital markets group is increasingly involved in European and US debt issues for both underwriting banks and corporate issuers.
Some of their notable clients include Morgan Stanley, Energean Oil & Gas, Kaspi.kz, Goldman Sachs etc.
Clifford Chance
This UK based firm has it headquarter in London, and a total of 34 offices across 23 countries.
Clifford Chance secured the most European M&A contracts, becoming the continent’s most popular counsel to top-tier private equity clients. The International Financial Law Review (IFLR) Europe Awards, part of the Euromoney group, recognised it International Law Firm of the Year the same year.
It has around 2,500 lawyers on its list. With primary areas include banks, healthcare, private equity, and transportation and logistics, according to the company’s website.
In 2021, its reported gross revenue was 2.3 billion dollars.
Hogan Lovells
This is an American-British law firm with it headquarter in both London and Washington DC. In 2010, the American legal firm Hogan & Harston and the British law firm Lovells merged to establish Hogan Lovells.
The total number of attorneys in the firm are 2400 and has it’s 40 offices across USA, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.
In 2013, Hogan Lovells was the world’s eleventh largest law firm by revenue, generating over US$1.8 billion (£1.1 billion) that year. By 2017, the company has ascended to seventh place in the globe, with gross revenues reaching $2 billion.
Hogan Lovells claims to be a “government regulatory, litigation, commercial litigation and arbitration, corporate, finance, and intellectual property specialist.”
Hogan Lovells was named one of America’s Top Trusted Corporate Law Firms 2019 by Forbes.
Allen & Overy
Allen & Overy is a multinational legal company that assists the world’s greatest corporations in their efforts to develop, innovate, and flourish.
The Allen & Overy was founded in 1930, It is a member of the Magic Circle of prominent law firms in the United Kingdom.
Allen & Overy advised on more transactional deals than any other law firm in the world in 2019 and was one of two firms to cross the $1 trillion barrier in deal value, totalling $1.16 trillion.
It has a total of 44 office worldwide, spread across 31 countries.
The gross revenue of the firm is $2,272,016,000 as per 2020.
Jones Day
Jones Day is a global law firm based in the United States. As of 2018, it was the fifth largest law firm in the United States and the world’s 13th highest grossing law firm.
It was founded 1893 in Cleveland, Ohio and the headquarter is still in the same place. Jones Day leads both the M&A league tables and the 2017 U.S. Law Firm Brand Index. Jones Day has represented more than half of the Fortune 500 firms, including Goldman Sachs, General Motors, McDonald’s, and Bridgestone.
Jones Day served as outside counsel for Trump’s 2016 and 2020 campaigns. Jones was purportedly representing former President Donald Trump in lawsuits challenging the results of the 2020 Presidential election, but the firm has continually disputed the accusations, noting that they have not represented Trump in any election-related litigation.
Jones Day hired a large number of former Trump administration lawyers in 2021.
The gross revenue generated as per 2021 is around $2 billion.
Ropes & Gary
Ropes & Gary was founded in 1865 in Boston, Massachusetts.
Ropes & Gray services clients through a global network of locations in key business, finance, technology, and government hubs. More than 1,400 attorneys from the United States, Europe, and Asia work seamlessly across 17 time zones to offer clients with the high-quality counsel and uncompromising, round-the-clock service that has made Ropes & Gray one of the world’s finest law firms.
Corporations and financial institutions, government agencies, universities, and health care groups are among its clients.
According to the 2021 Vault Rankings, the firm is ranked third among the top law firms to work for, while. The American Lawyer’s Am Law 100 ranked it sixth in revenue and profits per equity partner in 2020. Forbes characterises the firm as being widely recognised for its fintech and global M&A expertise.
Private equity, mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property, complex business litigation, securities litigation, health care, life sciences, bankruptcy and business restructuring, government enforcement and white-collar crime, privacy and data security, investment management, hedge funds, antitrust, employee benefits, tax, and real estate are among the firm’s major practise areas. Private equity, life sciences, health care, asset management, TMT (technology, media, and telecommunications), and retail are among the industries in which the business is active.
Gibson, Dunn, and Crutcher
This multinational law firm has it headquarter in Los Angeles California.
It was founded in 1890 and currently has the capacity of 1400 attorneys around 20 offices across the world, including North and south America, Europe, and the middle east.
The firm is well-known for its litigation practise, particularly its expertise in appellate law.
The firm has represented, chevron, George W. Bush, Apple, inc., mark Zuckerberg, intel, CNN and many more notable clients.
And has a gross revenue of $2,480,394,000
Bottom line
Law companies can have several practice areas, and experience at both the local and global levels is essential for the world’s best firms. The legal firms listed above are successfully running their businesses across several practice areas and have consistently managed billions of dollars of revenue.
Note – This review is written by our expert reviewer based on their research. If you are the business owner and have questions about our review, don’t hesitate to contact us for corrections.
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