Quinn Emanuel cites contingent fees as reason for strong 2011 financials
Litigation powerhouse Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan has kicked off this year’s US financial reporting season by posting a 31 per cent increase in gross revenue.
John Quinn
The firm’s turnover grew to $723.4m during 2011, an increase that firm founder and managing partner John Quinn admitted was powered by contingent fees and a range of other alternative fee arrangements.
“Obviously, we couldn’t have achieved financial results like these simply billing by the hour,” said Quinn in a statement. “A significant amount of our revenue came from contingent fee and other alternative fee arrangements, both on the plaintiff and defence side.”
Earlier this year The Lawyer revealed a range of fee arrangements that Quinn Emanuel had used on recent cases, including one in which it took a 20 per cent cut of damages estimated at $150m (16 January 2012).
The US firm also posted impressive net profit results, up 34 per cent to $489.5m, and average profits per equity partner, up 15 per cent to $4.1m.
Revenue per lawyer grew by 14 per cent to $1.4m.
“Results like these don’t just happen,” Quinn continued. “They were the product of a lot of hard work by a lot of people.”
