www.americanlawyer.com
October 2010
The Global 100 2010: The Recession Performance Index
Losing ground: After years of seemingly inexorable rises, the 84 American and British firms that were on the Global 100 in both 2007 and 2009
saw average annual declines of 0.15 percent in gross revenue, 1.3 percent in revenue per lawyer (RPL), and 2.76 percent in profits per partner
(PPP). About a quarter of them showed a positive RPL trend over the 2007-09 time frame, and about the same proportion showed a positive
PPP trend. Who stood out amid the wreckage? To determine that, we added up the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for the four metrics
and used the resulting score to create the index below.
Rank
1
2
Firm
CAGR Revenue
CAGR Lawyers
CAGR RPL
CAGR PPP
RPI
1
K&L Gates
17%
17%
0%
4%
38
2
Covington & Burling
12%
12%
1%
1%
26
3
McGuireWoods
11%
9%
1%
4%
25
4
Fish & Richardson
7%
1%
5%
6%
19
5
Bingham McCutchen
8%
4%
2%
4%
18
6
Cleary Gottlieb
4%
7%
0%
5%
16
7
Bryan Cave
9%
12%
-3%
-5%
13
7
Lovells (U.K.)¹
6%
3%
4%
0%
13
7
Perkins Coie
5%
3%
2%
3%
13
10
Quinn Emanuel
4%
8%
-2%
2%
12
11
Gibson, Dunn
5%
8%
-3%
0%
10
11
King & Spalding
5%
1%
2%
2%
10
11
Ropes & Gray
4%
9%
-6%
3%
10
14
Arnold & Porter
2%
5%
-3%
5%
9
14
Weil, Gotshal
2%
4%
-2%
5%
9
16
Drinker Biddle
2%
2%
0%
3%
7
17
Akin Gump
-2%
-10%
8%
10%
6
17
Reed Smith
3%
5%
-2%
0%
6
17
Troutman Sanders
4%
2%
0%
0%
6
20
Jones Day
3%
7%
-4%
-1%
5
20
Kirkland & Ellis
4%
5%
-4%
0%
5
20
Wilmer
0%
-1%
2%
4%
5
23
Winston & Strawn
1%
2%
1%
0%
4
24
Paul, Weiss
1%
2%
-2%
2%
3
24
Proskauer Rose
1%
1%
4%
-3%
3
26
Allen & Overy (U.K.)
2%
-4%
5%
-1%
2
26
Alston & Bird
3%
8%
-4%
-5%
2
26
Baker Botts
0%
0%
-1%
3%
2
26
Davis Polk
4%
8%
-5%
-5%
2
26
Sidley Austin
-1%
-1%
1%
3%
2
31
Duane Morris
2%
2%
0%
-3%
1
31
Fulbright & Jaworski
-1%
-2%
1%
3%
1
31
Nixon Peabody
1%
3%
-3%
0%
1
31
Orrick
5%
6%
-1%
-9%
1
35
Slaughter and May (U.K.)
-2%
-2%
3%
1%
0
35
Squire, Sanders
1%
2%
-1%
-2%
0
Hogan & Hartson merged with Lovells in May 2010 to form Hogan Lovells.
Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal merged with Denton Wilde Sapte in September 2010 to form SNR Denton.
The Global 100 2010: The Recession Performance Index
Rank
Firm
CAGR Revenue
CAGR Lawyers
CAGR RPL
CAGR PPP
RPI
37
Sullivan & Cromwell
1%
5%
-6%
-1%
-1
38
Morgan, Lewis
2%
4%
-1%
-7%
-2
38
Seyfarth Shaw
1%
-3%
1%
-1%
-2
40
Goodwin Procter
4%
7%
-5%
-9%
-3
40
Greenberg Traurig
-1%
1%
-3%
0%
-3
40
Herbert Smith (U.K.)
3%
4%
-1%
-9%
-3
40
Vinson & Elkins
-3%
0%
-3%
3%
-3
44
Hogan & Hartson¹
-1%
5%
-5%
-3%
-4
44
Wachtell
1%
8%
-6%
-7%
-4
46
Cooley
2%
5%
-3%
-9%
-5
46
Howrey
1%
5%
-3%
-8%
-5
48
Freshfields (U.K.)
-2%
-1%
0%
-3%
-6
48
Wilson Sonsini
-3%
-2%
-1%
0%
-6
50
Baker & McKenzie
-2%
2%
-4%
-3%
-7
50
DLA Piper International (U.K.)
4%
2%
2%
-15%
-7
50
Hunton & Williams
-3%
-4%
1%
-1%
-7
50
Skadden
-2%
0%
-2%
-3%
-7
54
Morrison & Foerster
-1%
-1%
-1%
-5%
-8
54
Sonnenschein²
-1%
5%
-4%
-8%
-8
56
White & Case
-2%
-3%
-2%
-2%
-9
57
Dorsey & Whitney
-3%
1%
-4%
-4%
-10
57
Holland & Knight
-6%
-3%
-1%
0%
-10
59
Kaye Scholer
-4%
-7%
3%
-3%
-11
59
Linklaters (U.K.)
-4%
-6%
2%
-3%
-11
59
Milbank, Tweed
-3%
1%
-3%
-6%
-11
59
Norton Rose (U.K.)
2%
3%
-4%
-12%
-11
59
Paul, Hastings
-5%
-7%
2%
-1%
-11
59
Schulte Roth
-3%
-2%
-1%
-5%
-11
65
DLA Piper US
-5%
-6%
-1%
0%
-12
65
Eversheds (U.K.)
-5%
-6%
2%
-3%
-12
65
Katten Muchin
-4%
-2%
-4%
-2%
-12
65
Pillsbury Winthrop
-5%
-5%
0%
-2%
-12
69
Willkie Farr
-5%
3%
-6%
-5%
-13
70
Mayer Brown
-3%
7%
-10%
-8%
-14
70
O’Melveny & Myers
-6%
-9%
6%
-5%
-14
72
Foley & Lardner
-4%
-2%
-5%
-4%
-15
73
Shearman & Sterling
-7%
-2%
-4%
-3%
-16
74
Cravath
-4%
6%
-10%
-9%
-17
74
Debevoise & Plimpton
-3%
6%
-10%
-10%
-17
74
Latham & Watkins
-5%
1%
-4%
-9%
-17
77
Simpson Thacher
-5%
3%
-8%
-8%
-18
78
Clifford Chance (U.K.)
-5%
-4%
-1%
-10%
-20
79
McDermott Will
-8%
-4%
-2%
-8%
-22
80
Dechert
-8%
-7%
0%
-9%
-24
81
Cadwalader
-12%
-13%
5%
-6%
-26
81
Simmons & Simmons (U.K.)
-7%
-9%
6%
-16%
-26
83
Ashurst (U.K.)
-5%
0%
-4%
-19%
-28
84
Fried, Frank
-11%
-10%
-3%
-10%
-34
Reprinted with permission from the October 2010 online edition of THE AMERICAN LAWYER © 2010 ALM Media Properties, LLC. All rights reserved.
Further duplication without permission is prohibited. For information, contact 877-257-3382 or reprints@alm.com. # 001-10-10-01