Even after the rough revenue ride that was 2022 — a year where Biglaw firms came back to reality after reaching the highest of monetary heights in 2021 — your Biglaw firm may be doing quite well financially… but is it among the Am Law 100’s Super Rich?
What qualifies a firm to be designated as among the Super Rich? These are the Biglaw firms that have at least $1.1 million in revenue per lawyer (RPL) and $550,000 in profits per lawyer (PPL). These Biglaw firms are rolling around in cash, and they’re not afraid to flaunt it after coming through ahead of peer firms last year. After all, according to the American Lawyer, in 2021, the Super Rich list was the “most inclusive” on record, but in 2022, the number Super Rich firms dropped from 40 to 34. Here are some additional details on the sheer wealth of the Super Rich firms:
This year’s list averaged a gross revenue of $1.84 billion, outpacing the overall average gross for the Am Law 100 of $1.31 billion. And revenue per lawyer was significantly higher for Super Rich firms than the entire pack, with their average of $1.62 million in RPL exceeding the entire 100’s $1.18 million in RPL.
But the greatest difference can be seen in the profitability per lawyer metric achieved by the rich versus super rich.
While the PPL for the Am Law 100 overall was $487,458 on average, for the Super Rich, the average was $830,912.
Before we get to the members of the 2023 Super Rich list, we’ll let you know which firms didn’t make the cut this time around. They include (in alphabetical order): Alston & Bird; Cadwalader; Cahill; Kramer Levin; McDermott Will & Emery; and Wilson Sonsini.
Without further ado, these are the top 10 firms on the Am Law Super Rich list:
- Wachtell
- Sullivan & Cromwell
- Kirkland & Ellis
- Paul Weiss
- Gibson Dunn
- Skadden
- Quinn Emanuel
- Cravath
- Latham
- Davis Polk
Click here to see the complete list.
Congratulations to all of the Biglaw firms that made it into the Super Rich club in 2022! If your firm performs well enough, 2023 could be your year to shine.
Back to Reality: The 2023 Am Law 100 Super Rich [American Lawyer]
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.
