US fees and profits: more, more, more

US firms have had another bumper year, according to the latest AmLaw 100 figures.

Seven firms out of the US top 10 posted double-digit increases in turnover, with both Jones Day and White & Case increasing revenues by more than 20 per cent. Jones Day grossed just over a billion dollars, while White & Case turned over $811m (£446.6m) – on track for breaking the billion-dollar revenue barrier in 2005.

Latham & Watkins’ turnover rose by 14 per cent to $1.03bn (£568.8m), putting it in the billion-dollar category for the first time, joining Baker & McKenzie, Jones Day and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom.

Meanwhile, Kirkland & Ellis made the AmLaw top 10 for the first time, displacing McDermott Will & Emery with a revenue increase of 18.7 per cent.

Kirkland’s figures were underpinned by a strong performance in private equity and bankruptcy; it worked on the restructurings of Conseco and United Airlines and handled a series of deals for Bain Capital and Vestar Capital Partners, among others.

Other major movers were Reed Smith, with a turnover leap of 40.6 per cent to $441.5m (£243.1m), taking it into the top 50 for the first time, and Greenberg Traurig, whose 23.1 per cent rise to $572.5m (£315.3m) propelled it into the top 20. Both firms have aimed for growth, with Miami-based Greenberg hiring from Wilson Sonsini to open in Silicon Valley and launching practices in Switzerland and the Netherlands.

Reed Smith’s revenue figures are almost entirely boosted by a series of aggressive mergers. Having already taken on teams in New York and Virginia, it merged with 215-lawyer California firm Crosby Heafey Roach & May in January 2003.

The Wall Street elite had a less spectacular year in revenue terms. Sullivan & Cromwell recorded a strong 10.1 per cent rise to $687m (£378.3m), but Davis Polk & Wardwell and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett only managed 3 per cent to $587m (£323.2m) and 6.1 per cent to $576.5m (£317.5m) respectively.

Two new entrants to the AmLaw 100 recorded big jumps in turnover. IP specialist Fish & Richardson translated an 18.7 per cent rise in headcount into a 20.1 per cent revenue rise, to $197.5m (£108.8m), which placed it 95th in the table. Litigation boutique Preston Gates & Ellis – home of Bill Gates’ father – posted a 25.6 per cent increase in turnover to $189m (£104.1m), at 100th in the table.

New York firms inevitably still dominate the profits per equity partner charts. Wach-tell Lipton Rosen & Katz still has the richest partners in the US, but it did not equal last year’s record-breaking figures. Profits were down 11 per cent to a mere $2.6m (£1.4m).

One of the most astounding performers in the profits tables was leveraged finance specialist Cahill Gordon & Reindel. Its revenue per lawyer increased 23.5 per cent, which helped take profits up 30.4 per cent to $2.4m (£1.3m) – second in the table.

But even Cahill was outperformed by litigation specialist Dickstein Shapiro Morin & Oshinsky, which saw its revenue per lawyer shoot up 34.7 per cent – powering an astonishing profits rise of 58.6 per cent to $1.9m (£1m).