Law firm partner profits rose in 2014; top 15 law firms had the best showing, Citi report says
Law firms surveyed by Citi Private Bank posted greater income and partner profits in 2014 than they did the prior year.
Net income rose 6 percent in 2014 at the 179 firms surveyed while profits per equity partner rose 5.7 percent and revenue rose 4.5 percent, according to John Wilmouth, senior client adviser of Citi Private Bank’s Law Firm Group. The prior year, the respective increases were 3.2 percent, 3.5 percent and 2.5 percent.
Writing in the Am Law Daily (sub. req.), Wilmouth says firms in the ranks of the Am Law 50 outperformed other firms in profitability growth, boosted by transactional work. And the 15 most profitable law firms in the survey “materially outperformed the rest of the industry.”
Citi expects most of the income growth next year to come from transactional work, especially mergers and acquisitions. “The demand for litigation will likely be flat at best,” Wilmouth writes, “as many law firm clients seek to reduce costs through settlements and outsourcing.”
