THE NATIONAL LAW JOURNAL/WWW.NLJ.COM ❙ AUGUST 3, 2015
13
LEGAL TIMES 150
OUR ANNUAL SURVEY OF THE LARGEST LAW OFFICES IN THE WASHINGTON METRO AREA BY HEAD COUNT.
Mergers Shake Up List of Largest D.C. Law Offices
Covington & Burling claims top spot for second year in a row, and Morgan Lewis joins the Big Four.
Covington & Burling, at the top of
The National Law Journal’s list of Wash­
ington’s largest firms for the second
consecutive year, added about 15 total
lawyers last year in a time when elite
firms, especially ones that focus on litiga­
tion, find the most ability to expand in
Washington.
Call it the muddying of the middle:
Legal business around Washington
has become increasingly concentrated
around the premium, largest law firms
as midtiered offices get bogged down,
unable to grow or assert themselves in
the competitive capital city.
Law firm managers whose firms lead
The National Law Journal’s Legal Times
150—our annual survey of head count in
the District of Columbia and its Maryland
and Virginia suburbs—relied on high-end
litigation and regulation work to help
them expand last year.
Take Paul Hastings, a $2-million-plus
profits per partner firm. It grew its D.C.
head count by 4 percent from 2013
to 2014, after clients demanded more
white-collar practitioners who could
handle litigation in the courts or before
federal agencies.
“The more that we do, the more that
people are coming to us to do it,” said
Scott Flicker, a white-collar litigation
partner and chairman of Paul Hastings’
Washington office. “There is a feedback
loop. That’s part of the reason why the
more successful firms are successful.”
On the whole, the largest firms in the
region expanded. The top 25 firms in the
area ticked up by 4 percent in their com­
bined gross revenues compared to last
year’s top 25 firms by revenue, according
to our D.C. 25 survey of revenue in the
Washington metropolitan area.
The total number of lawyers work­
ing at the 150 largest firms on the list,
14,235, was flat compared to the previ­
ous year.
Covington, at the top of the list, grew
head count by 3 percent to 454 lawyers,
partly because of its hiring white-collar
practitioners, among others, who left the
U.S. Department of Justice.
In the top five largest firms, a new,
non-Washington-founded name broke in.
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius for the
first time counted more than 300 law­
yers because of a merger last year. The
firm’s rank as the fourth-largest firm in
DIEGO M. RADZINSCHI
BY KATELYN POLANTZ
NO. 1: Covington & Burling, which moved in December to a new office in downtown Washington, grew
its head count by 3 percent to 454 lawyers. Several former DOJ attorneys have returned to the firm.
Washington, with 345 lawyers, upended
the so-called Big Four among firms here:
Covington, Hogan Lovells, Arnold &
Porter and Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale
and Dorr. Wilmer dropped to the fifth
slot after an almost 20 percent decline in
head count.
Cooley, another firm that embarked
on a merger early last year, jumped sev­
eral spots on our list to crack the top 40.
Outside of whole-firm tie-ups, liti­
gation-focused firms made some of the
largest gains, including Boies, Schiller
& Flexner; Quinn Emanuel Urquhart &
Sullivan; and the plaintiffs firm Cohen
Milstein Sellers & Toll.
Not all specialized firms had an easy
year, however. Intellectual property
shops were among those that suffered
the most in size.
Middle-of-the-pack firms—both in
size and service—also faced growth limi­
tations because some of their general-­
service practices weren’t as developed as
elite Big Law powerhouses.
“The dabblers get washed out, because
there’s not enough work for the dab­
blers,” said Andrew Sandler, chairman of
BuckleySandler, which nearly landed on
the D.C. 25 revenue list.
The boutique, which partly spun off
from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher &
Flom and from a legacy Goodwin Procter
group in 2009, had major wins last year
after investing several years working for
the Navajo Nation and in representing
the trustee in IndyMac Bancorp Inc.’s
bankruptcy.
The cases propelled its profits per
partner to more than $1 million, with
most of its yearly revenue reaped in
Washington.
“We are at the beginning of a multiyear
shakeout because some firms’ business
models won’t work out,” Sandler said.
A NEW BIG FOUR AT THE TOP
Wilmer, with 321 total lawyers,
dropped down to the fifth largest firm
in Washington last year. The decline
marked a 20 percent drop in head count
compared to the prior year.
Morgan Lewis’ merger last year with
Bingham McCutchen helped it jump
from 13th-largest firm to fourth largest
in the city.
Its size increased 40 percent, to 345
lawyers in 2014 from 247 lawyers in
2013. At the same time, Wilmer lost
about a fifth of its D.C. force, or 75
­lawyers.
Morgan Lewis has seen few partner
departures since the merger. Part of that
can be attributed to a so-called goldenhandcuff policy that would penalize cer­
tain partners from leaving within three
years of the merger, according to The
American Lawyer.
Still, D.C. co-managing partner
Elizabeth Baird said the firm’s strategy
for growth in D.C. wasn’t about achiev­
ing a certain number. The firm wanted
to merge so it would have more practices
that would fit its clients’ needs, Baird
said.
Several of those practices pivoted
around Washington and regulation work,
a large part of legal business here, in par­
ticular, and that propelled the combined
office to a large number of lawyers.
Baird said she was “so proud of the
fact that we are the biggest office,” Baird
said. “It’s really a badge of honor inter­
nally. But it’s not part of a strategy.”
The growth has paid off, Baird said.
She cited a client that needed help on a
federal agency’s investigation. When the
investigation shifted focus, the client kept
the job at Morgan Lewis instead of seek­
ing a different firm, she said.
Aside from law, Baird, who came from
Bingham, and her co-managing partner,
legacy Morgan Lewis office chief Grace
Speights, have melded their teams at
partner lunches and practice head break­
fasts. Bingham, for example, held 16 sea­
son tickets for the Washington Nationals
baseball team. Those tickets now get split
between the two legacy firms’ lawyers.
“On a day-to-day basis, our lives are
pretty much the same. Part of what has
changed is structural. Instead of calling
someone in Boston to fix a particular
problem, I call someone in Philadelphia,”
Baird said.
The firm still maintains two separate
offices in the city: the legacy Morgan
Lewis space on Pennsylvania Avenue,
which they now call “Morgan Lewis
East,” and the former Bingham location
on K Street. Some groups have swapped
offices, Baird said.
“If being in two offices was disrup­
tive, being a global firm would make no
sense,” Baird said.
For the purpose of the LT 150 survey,
Morgan Lewis’ two office buildings in
D.C. were counted as one location. Firms
sometimes have multiple buildings in
what they deem a location, and, gener­
ally, our survey counts offices separately
when they appear in different cities.
D.C. 25: REVENUE RANKING
Cooley and Mayer Brown both were
new to the list of firms on this year’s D.C.
25, which tracks law firms’ Washington
metro area presence by revenue.
Squire Patton Boggs is identified as
SEE LARGEST, PAGE 15
THE NATIONAL LAW JOURNAL/WWW.NLJ.COM ❙ AUGUST 3, 2015
15
LEGAL TIMES 150
LARGEST, FROM PAGE 13
There is a renewed recognition
that a global platform is very
important to many lawyers
in terms of building and
expanding their practice.
—Daniel Masur, Mayer Brown
administration nears its end. When a
firm makes some splashy hires, momen­
tum builds, Masur said.
“There are always some number of
really talented lawyers on the market,
and we’re getting to see more of them
than we had in the past,” Masur said.
Mayer Brown hired lateral groups from
Baker & McKenzie in immigration law,
Kirkland & Ellis in white-collar, and in
intellectual property from Steptoe &
Johnson LLP in 2014, among others.
“There is a renewed recognition that
a global platform is very important to
many lawyers in terms of building and
expanding their practice,” Masur said.
At the moment, clients are seeking out
more insight into the government, he
added, buoying Washington offices.
DIEGO M. RADZINSCHI
“new” because it did not exist the previ­
ous year. Its Washington-based ­legacy
firm Patton Boggs, which merged with
Squire Sanders last June, had been
among the largest 25 firms in the area.
Bingham McCutchen dropped off the list
because it merged with Morgan Lewis.
Morrison & Foerster, which barely
made the D.C. 25 last year as No. 25 with
$138.6 million in revenue, didn’t grow
enough in 2014 and was replaced by
Mayer Brown.
The Chicago-founded firm nabbed the
25th spot with $145.5 million in revenue
from 153 lawyers in the area.
D.C. partner-in-charge Daniel Masur
attributed Mayer Brown’s growth to a
perfect storm in the city for lateral acqui­
sitions, which in turn can boost revenue
for an office.
Several firms, including Squire Patton
Boggs, went through mergers that sent
several résumés into the market. And
many government lawyers have sought
homes in private practice as the Obama
MANAGERS: Grace Speights, left, and Elizabeth Baird, formerly of Bingham McCutchen, are co-managing
partners of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius’ office in Washington, now the fourth largest in D.C.
communications regulatory work and in
regulation of for-profit colleges.
“All of the power centers come togeth­
er there. You couldn’t not be in Wash­
ington,” said Conroy, who is based in
New York.
“Ours is a simple business, and it’s
about human capital. Washington is the
site of as much legal talent as anywhere
save maybe New York.”
Clifford Chance, another firm with
double-digit proportionate growth, saw
opportunity in adding smaller groups
of lawyers from firms in upheaval. The
British Magic Circle firm acquired five
Washington lawyers, including two part­
ners, in a structured-finance group from
Bingham McCutchen last December. In
total, it grew by 43 percent to 63 lawyers
in D.C. last year.
“I don’t know whether we’ll grow the
same percentage in another year, but
we’d certainly like to,” said David DiBari,
the D.C. managing partner.
IP FIRM HEARTBURN
Some of the biggest declines in the LT
150 hit the intellectual property shops.
Of 13 intellectual property specialty firms
on our list, six declined in size in the
Washington area.
Mike Ray, managing director of Wash­
ington IP firm Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein
& Fox, said intellectual property firms
have often swung through periods of
boom and bust. Currently, there’s more
competition in the marketplace, no sig­
nificant growth in the number of patents
that companies need, and clients who
want to pay less for patent work.
Sterne Kessler managed 5 percent
growth, with six new attorney positions
for a total of 128 in Washington last year,
Ray said.
Not all firms were large enough to
withstand the downturn, however.
Birch, Stewart, Kolasch & Birch, lost
29 percent of its lawyers from 2013 to
2014, marking the biggest drop in our
survey. It went from 58 lawyers in 2013
to 41 lawyers last year, according to NLJ
reporting.
“They’re asking for a little less work
done on a matter, and it can be done with
fewer attorneys,” said Charles Gorenstein,
an executive committee member and
partner at Birch Stewart. The belt-tight­
ening has been most evident among the
firm’s foreign clients, he added.
Birch lost the lawyer positions through
attrition, Gorenstein said.
Oliff, another Northern Virginia pat­
ent and trademark business, lost almost
20 percent of its lawyers. Its Alexandria
office now has 39 lawyers.
Other IP firms facing a slide in total
lawyers were Nixon & Vanderhye;
Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett
& Dunner; Fish & Richardson; and
Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton.
Contact Katelyn Polantz at kpolantz@
alm.com.
D.C. 25: THE REVENUE RANKING
RANK
FIRM
2014
2013
REVENUE
PERCENTAGE
CHANGE
FIRMWIDE
REVENUE PER
LAWYER
TOTAL
LAWYERS IN
D.C. AREA
3%
$995,000
412
1
Arnold & Porter
$421,000,000
$409,000,000
2
Hogan Lovells
$418,000,000
$420,000,000
0%
$755,000
460
3
Covington & Burling
$416,500,000
$380,173,300
10%
$915,000
454
4
Williams & Connolly
$399,000,000
$380,000,000
5%
$1,300,000
308
5
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr
$389,244,000
$396,439,000
-2%
$1,155,000
321
6
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
$385,000,000
$352,390,000
9%
$1,400,000
275
7
Latham & Watkins
$348,600,000
$320,790,000
9%
$1,245,000
280
8
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius
$339,825,000
$233,415,000
46%
$985,000
345
9
Sidley Austin
$295,800,000
$258,000,000
15%
$995,000
285
10
Kirkland & Ellis
$263,445,000
$281,015,000
-6%
$1,365,000
193
11
Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner
$242,722,000
$243,888,000
0%
$985,000
236
MERGER INFLUX
12
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
$241,785,000
$247,200,000
-2%
$1,215,000
199
Aside from Morgan Lewis, mergers
reshaped other firms on our list.
Cooley picked up 12 partners in
Washington in a merger with Dow
Lohnes in January. The firm notched
a 64 percent head count gain in the
D.C. office, and the number of lawyers
jumped from 72 to 118 in 2014.
Cooley’s Reston, Virginia, office did
not change in size from the previous
year.
The Palo Alto-based firm wanted to
expand, but not in the way other firms
have with a general-service approach. It
sought to dig into its brand around tech­
nology and life-sciences industry exper­
tise. Dow Lohnes partners practices fit in
naturally, Cooley chief executive officer
Joe Conroy said, citing specializations in
13
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
$240,600,000
$240,500,000
0%
$1,055,000
232
14
Steptoe & Johnson LLP
$237,600,000
$247,200,000
-4%
$915,000
234
15
Crowell & Moring
$226,395,632
$234,722,000
-4%
$820,000
273
16
Wiley Rein
$224,500,000
$232,000,000
-3%
$840,000
267
17
Venable
$198,597,000
$190,618,000
4%
$785,000
257
18
Cooley
$191,860,000
#N/A
#N/A
$1,060,000
181
19
McDermott Will & Emery
$187,850,000
$186,434,000
1%
$900,000
190
20
Jones Day
$185,220,000
$190,000,000
-3%
$735,000
252
21
King & Spalding
$171,965,000
$152,675,000
13%
$1,055,000
163
22
Arent Fox
$170,000,000
$169,000,000
1%
$800,000
192
23
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman
$165,300,000
$169,280,000
-2%
$950,000
174
24
Squire Patton Boggs
$164,000,000
#N/A
#N/A
$640,000
152
25
Mayer Brown
$145,500,000
#N/A
#N/A
$825,000
153
METHODOLOGY: The largest law firms in the D.C. area were asked to submit their 2014 revenues for all D.C. metro area operations. Some firms decline to release these numbers;
therefore the chart contains some estimates based on National Law Journal reporting, including revenue per lawyer and office head count figures. The revenue per lawyer is based
on the 2014 Am Law 100 and Am Law 200 figures. The total lawyer head counts are based on NLJ 350 totals for the year 2014.