It’s AmLaw 100 List Day!

Today is the day American Lawyer announces the 2011 AmLaw 100.

This is the summary they teased with:

After watching profits per partner sink 4.3 percent in 2008 and revive only 0.3 percent in 2009, Am Law 100 firms finally posted a healthy increase–8.4 percent–in 2010. But much of that gain is attributable to firms’ aggressive cost-control measures, especially in the area of headcount, which dropped 2.7 percent over 2009. As a result, growth in revenue per lawyer–the most reliable measure of the overall financial health of law firms–was more tepid, 4.4 percent.

Gross revenue rose 4 percent in 2010, in effect making up for the 3.4 percent loss The Am Law 100 posted in 2009, as firms benefited from the nascent recovery in capital markets and M&A. However, much of that growth came from two giants–DLA Piper and Hogan Lovells, a pair of vereins whose worldwide revenues were included in this year’s report for the first time, due to a change in our methodology. Leaving out those two anomalies, The AmLaw 100’s average gross revenue increased a meager 1.4 percent in 2010.

Get their commentary here.  If you don’t have an hour, here is my summary:

A headcount drop of 2.7% sounds modest, but this is the biggest drop in 25 years of tracking the numbers.

Here are the firms who dropped off the AmLaw 100:

• Howrey
• Dickstein Shapiro
• Faegre
• Davis Wright

These firms joined the AmLaw 100:

• Jackson Lewis
• McKenna Long
• Sutherland Asbill
• Cahill

Another notable trend mentioned was that non-equity partner ranks were up in 2009 and down in 2010, with the likely reason being equity partners being demoted in 2009 and dropped altogether in 2010.  As the presenter noted, it used to be hard to “make” partner.  Now it’s hard to “stay” partner.

Profits Per Partner were up, on average, 8.4% from:

• cost-cutting
• cuts in the equity partner ranks
• fewer equity partners added

Revenue Per Partner winners were:

• Kirkland
• Steptoe
• Hughes Hubbard
• Goodwin
• Cahill

RPL losers:

• Finnegan
• Schulte
• Covington
• Crowell
• Cozen

If you haven’t been following the Baker Hostetler news about eye-popping revenue gains, please note that these are non-recurring numbers related to their work on behalf of the Bernie Madoff liquidation trustee.