{"id":148870,"date":"2026-04-15T15:29:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T23:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/04\/15\/the-2026-am-law-100-is-out-and-surprise-the-rich-law-firms-got-richer\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T15:29:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T23:29:11","slug":"the-2026-am-law-100-is-out-and-surprise-the-rich-law-firms-got-richer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/04\/15\/the-2026-am-law-100-is-out-and-surprise-the-rich-law-firms-got-richer\/","title":{"rendered":"The 2026 Am Law 100 Is Out, And Surprise: The Rich Law Firms Got Richer"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve been paying any attention to Biglaw over the past few years, the headline from the 2026 Am Law 100 rankings<\/a> won\u2019t shock you: the industry is doing extremely<\/em> well, thank you very much, and the firms at the top have absolutely no intention of sharing the view.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s break it down.<\/p>\n

Kirkland & Ellis is still sitting at No. 1 with $10.556 billion in gross revenue, yes, billion<\/em> with a B, up nearly 20 percent from the prior year. Latham & Watkins trails at $8.3 billion. After that, it\u2019s a significant drop to DLA Piper\u2019s $4.58 billion at No. 3.<\/p>\n

The most notable shuffling in the top 10: Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher climbed one spot to No. 4, while Skadden slipped one to No. 5. Simpson Thacher had the most dramatic move, jumping two spots to crack the top 10 at No. 10 with $3.55 billion, a nifty 22.66 percent surge that should make their partners very happy indeed.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Kirkland & Ellis \u2014 $10.556B (+19.93%)<\/li>\n
  2. Latham & Watkins \u2014 $8.300B (+18.57%)<\/li>\n
  3. DLA Piper \u2014 $4.583B (+8.10%)<\/li>\n
  4. Gibson Dunn \u2014 $4.211B (+18.37%)<\/li>\n
  5. Skadden \u2014 $4.073B (+11.00%)<\/li>\n
  6. Sidley Austin \u2014 $3.738B (+8.68%)<\/li>\n
  7. Ropes & Gray \u2014 $3.737B (+9.39%)<\/li>\n
  8. Baker McKenzie \u2014 $3.640B (+7.24%)<\/li>\n
  9. White & Case \u2014 $3.594B (+8.36%)<\/li>\n
  10. Simpson Thacher \u2014 $3.553B (+22.66%)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Sixty-two firms cleared the $1 billion revenue threshold in 2025, up from 58 the year before. Ninety-four firms posted revenue gains. The one firm you might feel mildly bad for? Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, which had the steepest decline at -5.5 percent. Immigration work, it turns out, is subject to forces outside the firm\u2019s control.<\/p>\n

    If gross revenue is about size, revenue per lawyer (RPL) is about effectiveness. And here, the rankings tell a different story.<\/p>\n

    Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, a firm with a comparatively modest 272 lawyers, absolutely dominates at $5.085 million per lawyer. That\u2019s not a typo. Per. Lawyer. The gap between Wachtell and No. 2 Susman Godfrey ($2.876 million) is staggering. Susman, for its part, also operates relatively leanly with just 226 lawyers.<\/p>\n

    Davis Polk rounds out the top three at $2.588 million per lawyer, followed by Kirkland at $2.547 million. Yes, Kirkland\u2019s absolute revenue dominance is partly a function of having 4,145 lawyers, but they\u2019re still remarkably efficient for their scale.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Wachtell \u2014 $5.085M per lawyer (+13.71%)<\/li>\n
    2. Susman Godfrey \u2014 $2.876M (+20.39%)<\/li>\n
    3. Davis Polk \u2014 $2.588M (+19.70%)<\/li>\n
    4. Kirkland & Ellis \u2014 $2.547M (+10.79%)<\/li>\n
    5. Ropes & Gray \u2014 $2.524M (+8.33%)<\/li>\n
    6. Sullivan & Cromwell \u2014 $2.507M (+7.46%)<\/li>\n
    7. Quinn Emanuel \u2014 $2.453M (+23.39%)<\/li>\n
    8. Skadden \u2014 $2.319M (+12.08%)<\/li>\n
    9. Paul Weiss \u2014 $2.318M (+9.96%)<\/li>\n
    10. Cravath \u2014 $2.255M (-0.04%)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      For the Am Law 100 overall, revenue per lawyer increased 8.7 percent, with 92 of 100 firms posting gains. Littler Mendelson had the biggest RPL jump at 33.73 percent (the firm overall had an extraordinary year, posting 40.89 percent gross revenue growth). Gordon Rees had the worst showing at -15.79 percent.<\/p>\n

      And now for the number every equity partner actually cares about.<\/p>\n

      Wachtell leads the profits per equity partner (PEP) rankings with $12.152 million per equity partner, which, by the way, represents a 34.48 percent increase over last year<\/a>. Kirkland\u2019s equity partners aren\u2019t crying either, at $11.121 million PEP (up 20.19 percent). Davis Polk checks in at $9.8 million, Quinn Emanuel at $9.545 million, and Gibson Dunn at $8.89 million.<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Wachtell \u2014 $12.152M PEP (+34.48%)<\/li>\n
      2. Kirkland & Ellis \u2014 $11.121M (+20.19%)<\/li>\n
      3. Davis Polk \u2014 $9.800M (+25.60%)<\/li>\n
      4. Quinn Emanuel \u2014 $9.545M (+10.44%)<\/li>\n
      5. Gibson Dunn \u2014 $8.890M (+23.90%)<\/li>\n
      6. Latham & Watkins \u2014 $8.654M (+21.29%)<\/li>\n
      7. Paul Weiss \u2014 $8.631M (+14.45%)<\/li>\n
      8. Simpson Thacher \u2014 $8.569M (+11.81%)<\/li>\n
      9. Paul Hastings \u2014 $8.330M (+24.05%)<\/li>\n
      10. Milbank \u2014 $7.620M (+11.86%)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        For the Am Law 100 as a whole, PEP was up 14 percent in 2025. Seventy firms had growth rates of at least 10 percent. Only two firms \u2014 two! \u2014 reported PEP declines. The market for top legal talent remains, to put it diplomatically, extremely robust.<\/p>\n

        2025 was, by nearly every measure, a remarkable year for Biglaw. The firms that were already dominant got more dominant. The profits flowing to equity partners reached levels that would have seemed absurd a decade ago. And the gap between the haves (Kirkland, Wachtell, Davis Polk) and the have-lesses (firms struggling to keep laterals, fighting associate attrition, watching revenue go sideways) is getting harder to ignore.<\/p>\n

        \n

        \"\"Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her<\/a> with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Mastodon @Kathryn1@mastodon.social.<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

        The post The 2026 Am Law 100 Is Out, And Surprise: The Rich Law Firms Got Richer<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

        If you\u2019ve been paying any attention to Biglaw over the past few years, the headline from the 2026 Am Law 100 rankings<\/a> won\u2019t shock you: the industry is doing extremely<\/em> well, thank you very much, and the firms at the top have absolutely no intention of sharing the view.<\/p>\n

        Let\u2019s break it down.<\/p>\n

        Kirkland & Ellis is still sitting at No. 1 with $10.556 billion in gross revenue, yes, billion<\/em> with a B, up nearly 20 percent from the prior year. Latham & Watkins trails at $8.3 billion. After that, it\u2019s a significant drop to DLA Piper\u2019s $4.58 billion at No. 3.<\/p>\n

        The most notable shuffling in the top 10: Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher climbed one spot to No. 4, while Skadden slipped one to No. 5. Simpson Thacher had the most dramatic move, jumping two spots to crack the top 10 at No. 10 with $3.55 billion, a nifty 22.66 percent surge that should make their partners very happy indeed.<\/p>\n

          \n
        1. Kirkland & Ellis \u2014 $10.556B (+19.93%)<\/li>\n
        2. Latham & Watkins \u2014 $8.300B (+18.57%)<\/li>\n
        3. DLA Piper \u2014 $4.583B (+8.10%)<\/li>\n
        4. Gibson Dunn \u2014 $4.211B (+18.37%)<\/li>\n
        5. Skadden \u2014 $4.073B (+11.00%)<\/li>\n
        6. Sidley Austin \u2014 $3.738B (+8.68%)<\/li>\n
        7. Ropes & Gray \u2014 $3.737B (+9.39%)<\/li>\n
        8. Baker McKenzie \u2014 $3.640B (+7.24%)<\/li>\n
        9. White & Case \u2014 $3.594B (+8.36%)<\/li>\n
        10. Simpson Thacher \u2014 $3.553B (+22.66%)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Sixty-two firms cleared the $1 billion revenue threshold in 2025, up from 58 the year before. Ninety-four firms posted revenue gains. The one firm you might feel mildly bad for? Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, which had the steepest decline at -5.5 percent. Immigration work, it turns out, is subject to forces outside the firm\u2019s control.<\/p>\n

          If gross revenue is about size, revenue per lawyer (RPL) is about effectiveness. And here, the rankings tell a different story.<\/p>\n

          Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, a firm with a comparatively modest 272 lawyers, absolutely dominates at $5.085 million per lawyer. That\u2019s not a typo. Per. Lawyer. The gap between Wachtell and No. 2 Susman Godfrey ($2.876 million) is staggering. Susman, for its part, also operates relatively leanly with just 226 lawyers.<\/p>\n

          Davis Polk rounds out the top three at $2.588 million per lawyer, followed by Kirkland at $2.547 million. Yes, Kirkland\u2019s absolute revenue dominance is partly a function of having 4,145 lawyers, but they\u2019re still remarkably efficient for their scale.<\/p>\n

            \n
          1. Wachtell \u2014 $5.085M per lawyer (+13.71%)<\/li>\n
          2. Susman Godfrey \u2014 $2.876M (+20.39%)<\/li>\n
          3. Davis Polk \u2014 $2.588M (+19.70%)<\/li>\n
          4. Kirkland & Ellis \u2014 $2.547M (+10.79%)<\/li>\n
          5. Ropes & Gray \u2014 $2.524M (+8.33%)<\/li>\n
          6. Sullivan & Cromwell \u2014 $2.507M (+7.46%)<\/li>\n
          7. Quinn Emanuel \u2014 $2.453M (+23.39%)<\/li>\n
          8. Skadden \u2014 $2.319M (+12.08%)<\/li>\n
          9. Paul Weiss \u2014 $2.318M (+9.96%)<\/li>\n
          10. Cravath \u2014 $2.255M (-0.04%)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            For the Am Law 100 overall, revenue per lawyer increased 8.7 percent, with 92 of 100 firms posting gains. Littler Mendelson had the biggest RPL jump at 33.73 percent (the firm overall had an extraordinary year, posting 40.89 percent gross revenue growth). Gordon Rees had the worst showing at -15.79 percent.<\/p>\n

            And now for the number every equity partner actually cares about.<\/p>\n

            Wachtell leads the profits per equity partner (PEP) rankings with $12.152 million per equity partner, which, by the way, represents a 34.48 percent increase over last year<\/a>. Kirkland\u2019s equity partners aren\u2019t crying either, at $11.121 million PEP (up 20.19 percent). Davis Polk checks in at $9.8 million, Quinn Emanuel at $9.545 million, and Gibson Dunn at $8.89 million.<\/p>\n

              \n
            1. Wachtell \u2014 $12.152M PEP (+34.48%)<\/li>\n
            2. Kirkland & Ellis \u2014 $11.121M (+20.19%)<\/li>\n
            3. Davis Polk \u2014 $9.800M (+25.60%)<\/li>\n
            4. Quinn Emanuel \u2014 $9.545M (+10.44%)<\/li>\n
            5. Gibson Dunn \u2014 $8.890M (+23.90%)<\/li>\n
            6. Latham & Watkins \u2014 $8.654M (+21.29%)<\/li>\n
            7. Paul Weiss \u2014 $8.631M (+14.45%)<\/li>\n
            8. Simpson Thacher \u2014 $8.569M (+11.81%)<\/li>\n
            9. Paul Hastings \u2014 $8.330M (+24.05%)<\/li>\n
            10. Milbank \u2014 $7.620M (+11.86%)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

              For the Am Law 100 as a whole, PEP was up 14 percent in 2025. Seventy firms had growth rates of at least 10 percent. Only two firms \u2014 two! \u2014 reported PEP declines. The market for top legal talent remains, to put it diplomatically, extremely robust.<\/p>\n

              2025 was, by nearly every measure, a remarkable year for Biglaw. The firms that were already dominant got more dominant. The profits flowing to equity partners reached levels that would have seemed absurd a decade ago. And the gap between the haves (Kirkland, Wachtell, Davis Polk) and the have-lesses (firms struggling to keep laterals, fighting associate attrition, watching revenue go sideways) is getting harder to ignore.<\/p>\n

              \n

              \"\"Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her<\/a> with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Mastodon @Kathryn1@mastodon.social.<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

              The post The 2026 Am Law 100 Is Out, And Surprise: The Rich Law Firms Got Richer<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

              If you\u2019ve been paying any attention to Biglaw over the past few years, the headline from the 2026 Am Law 100 rankings won\u2019t shock you: the industry is doing extremely well, thank you very much, and the firms at the top have absolutely no intention of sharing the view. Let\u2019s break it down. Kirkland & […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":148871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-148870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_5243-1-scaled-e1623338814705-620x568-xm1ZiC.jpg?fit=620%2C568&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}