DLA Piper is Nation’s Largest Firm, Survey Says
DLA Piper is the nation’s largest law firm, nudging Baker & McKenzie out of the top spot in a recent survey.
DLA Piper has 3,623 lawyers while Baker & McKenzie has 3,335, according to the 2007 NLJ 250 survey by the National Law Journal. Overall the study shows the top law firms employed 128,213 lawyers, a 5.6 percent increase over a year ago, the NLJ reports.
Rounding out the top five were Jones Day in the No. 3 spot, followed by Latham & Watkins and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.
Mergers played a big role in the survey, catapulting several firms upwards in the rankings. The merged firms include Dewey & LeBoeuf; Day Pitney; Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner; Drinker Biddle & Reath; Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis; and Reed Smith.
Law firms with 172 or more lawyers participated in the survey, which also showed a big growth in equity partners. The average number in a big firm is 55.2, an increase of 8.2 percent.
