After the whirlwind that the legal profession experienced in 2024 — a year where large law firms really had the urge to merge and nonequity partnership ranks continued to expand — 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. According to the American Lawyer, in 2024, the Super Rich list is now the largest of the last decade, increasing by three to reach 41. Here are some additional details on why the once-exclusive Super Rich firms club keeps growing larger and larger:
Because larger law firms have an advantage in competing for talent, and given that recent financial performance has been very strong for many firms, it’s not surprising that the Super Rich list keeps growing, and is approaching, at 41 firms, close to half of the entire Am Law 100, [Kent] Zimmermann[, a strategic adviser with Zeughauser Group,] said.
The Super Rich firms, he added, are now striving to strike a more balanced portfolio when it comes to focus, given that some practice areas are cyclical, while others are counter-cyclical.
While rate increases were likely a factor in growing the Super Rich list, demand was also up for many firms across many practice areas in 2024, so it was a “perfect storm” of accelerating performance industry-wide, Zimmermann said.
Before we get to the members of the 2025 Super Rich list, we’ll let you know that one firm is making a return this year — Dechert — while two firms — Cadwalader and Jenner & Block — are first timers on this year’s list. Not one single firm dropped from the list this time around, but one very high-profile firm — Cravath — was elbowed out of the Top 5.
Without further ado, here are the top 10 firms on the Super Rich list:
- Wachtell
- Susman Godfrey
- Sullivan & Cromwell
- Ropes & Gray
- Kirkland & Ellis
- Cravath
- Davis Polk
- Paul Weiss
- Skadden
- Quinn Emanuel
Click here to see the complete list of 41 firms.
Congratulations to all of the Biglaw firms that made it into the Super Rich club in 2024! If your firm performs well enough, 2025 could be your year to shine — after all, almost half of the Am Law 100 is already here!
Rich? These Law Firms Are Getting ‘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 Bluesky, X/Twitter, and Threads, or connect with her on LinkedIn.