I want to show you another view of the AmLaw 100, this ranked by "Revenue/Lawyer," a trivially simple calculation to perform, but which reveals a wealth of insight. 

Some of the results are obvious—our friends at 52nd and Sixth have almost lapped the field—but others are surprising.  What I've done below, besides adding the totals and average, is to give you a way of identifying firms that are "punching above their weight," inasmuch as their revenue/lawyer rank is materially higher than their AmLaw rank, by highlighting them in red.  And, in the other corner, shall we say, are firms whose AmLaw rank is substantially above their revenue/lawyer standing.  

You can read this many more ways than one, and for starters it's obligatory to note that high-end deal work will always be more lucrative "per capita" by its nature.  That does not mean, to my mind, that the firms ranked 1 through 7 deserve any less credit for being at the top of this brutally competitive food chain.

Conversely, firms that are below par on the revenue/lawyer metric may be where they are as a conscious choice of strategy—possibly including the biggest outlier of them all, Baker & McKenzie (hint:  you're going to have to scroll way way down to even find them).   Others may be in that position as they digest recent acquisitions, or they may be serving an industry niche in the doldrums.  Finally, there's the possibility that they've opted for "lifestyle!"  (Did I say that?  Aren't there Bar disciplinary rules about using that word!?)

 In any event, enjoy.  We can be sure that this will look different (OK, not at the top) next year.

 

Revenue/Lawyer Ranking	2004 Rank	2003 Rank	Firm	2004 Gross Revenue	Lawyers	Revenue/Lawyer
1	44	64	Wachtell	$431,000,000	197	$ 2,187,817
2	10	11	Sullivan & Cromwell	$833,000,000	589	$ 1,414,261
3	37	37	Cravath	$455,000,000	389	$ 1,169,666
4	23	16	Davis Polk	$604,500,000	538	$ 1,123,606
5	19	19	Simpson Thacher	$691,000,000	632	$ 1,093,354
6	30	32	Paul, Weiss	$504,000,000	480	$ 1,050,000
7	85	82	Cahill Gordon	$227,000,000	242	$ 938,017
8	9	10	Kirkland & Ellis	$835,000,000	897	$ 930,881
9	18	14	Gibson, Dunn	$693,000,000	745	$ 930,201
10	1	1	Skadden	$1,440,000,000	1,554	$ 926,641
11	43	42	Milbank, Tweed	$431,500,000	480	$ 898,958
12	34	40	Debevoise & Plimpton	$478,500,000	536	$ 892,724
13	46	51	Cadwalader	$416,000,000	486	$ 855,967
14	8	8	Weil, Gotshal	$905,000,000	1,080	$ 837,963
15	69	76	Schulte Roth	$292,000,000	354	$ 824,859
16	17	18	Cleary Gottlieb	$695,000,000	844	$ 823,460
17	46	52	Willkie Farr	$416,000,000	507	$ 820,513
18	59	61	Fried, Frank	$359,000,000	438	$ 819,635
19	49	55	Ropes & Gray	$404,500,000	501	$ 807,385
20	11	9	Shearman & Sterling	$775,000,000	963	$ 804,777
21	3	4	Latham & Watkins	$1,206,000,000	1,502	$ 802,929
22	58	56	Kaye Scholer	$362,000,000	458	$ 790,393
23	12	58	Wilmer Cutler	$750,500,000	960	$ 781,771
24	86	86	Finnegan, Henderson	$225,000,000	292	$ 770,548
25	16	13	O'Melveny & Myers	$697,000,000	910	$ 765,934
26	13	12	McDermott Will	$745,000,000	975	$ 764,103
27	35	36	Heller Ehrman	$472,000,000	628	$ 751,592
28	21	17	Akin Gump	$612,000,000	822	$ 744,526
29	87	95	Fish & Richardson	$224,500,000	304	$ 738,487
30	5	5	Sidley Austin	$1,029,500,000	1,405	$ 732,740
31	22	23	Paul, Hastings	$609,000,000	835	$ 729,341
32	64	63	Covington & Burling	$337,500,000	463	$ 728,942
33	33	29	Orrick	$484,000,000	666	$ 726,727
34	53	48	Dewey Ballantine	$380,500,000	524	$ 726,145
35	7	6	Mayer, Brown	$911,000,000	1,258	$ 724,165
36	79	83	Stroock & Stroock	$238,000,000	331	$ 719,033
37	26	26	Bingham McCutchen	$565,500,000	790	$ 715,823
38	39	31	Arnold & Porter	$454,000,000	639	$ 710,485
39	20	21	Hogan & Hartson	$630,000,000	898	$ 701,559
40	54	46	Wilson Sonsini	$377,500,000	540	$ 699,074
41	67	69	Goodwin Procter	$302,500,000	433	$ 698,614
42	82	93	Steptoe & Johnson	$232,500,000	335	$ 694,030
43	70	68	Cooley Godward	$289,000,000	418	$ 691,388
44	37	34	Vinson & Elkins	$455,000,000	661	$ 688,351
45	51	49	Proskauer Rose	$395,000,000	584	$ 676,370
			Average
46	42	39	Pillsbury Winthrop	$432,500,000	643	$ 672,628
47	24	22	Morrison & Foerster	$593,000,000	882	$ 672,336
48	61	44	Howrey	$352,000,000	525	$ 670,476
49	74	79	Jenner & Block	$253,500,000	381	$ 665,354
50	36	37	King & Spalding	$470,000,000	707	$ 664,781
51	45	43	Baker Botts	$420,000,000	643	$ 653,188
52	29	28	Winston & Strawn	$516,500,000	793	$ 651,324
53	40	41	Dechert	$441,500,000	678	$ 651,180
54	14	15	Morgan, Lewis	$723,500,000	1,112	$ 650,629
55	25	27	Piper Rudnick	$580,500,000	905	$ 641,436
56	57	57	Katten Muchin	$368,000,000	581	$ 633,391
57	77	77	Chadbourne & Parke	$241,000,000	382	$ 630,890
58	83	92	Sheppard, Mullin	$230,000,000	366	$ 628,415
59	28	25	Foley & Lardner	$542,500,000	869	$ 624,281
60	48	53	Sonnenschein	$411,000,000	660	$ 622,727
61	15	20	Greenberg Traurig	$712,000,000	1,149	$ 619,669
62	93	85	Gray Cary	$213,000,000	350	$ 608,571
63	50	50	Alston & Bird	$402,000,000	664	$ 605,422
64	60	54	LeBoeuf, Lamb	$356,500,000	601	$ 593,178
65	73	71	Jenkens & Gilchrist	$258,000,000	435	$ 593,103
66	32	30	Fulbright & Jaworski	$491,500,000	831	$ 591,456
67	62	67	Nixon Peabody	$348,000,000	593	$ 586,847
68	52	47	Squire, Sanders	$393,500,000	675	$ 582,963
69	78	78	Thelen Reid	$240,000,000	413	$ 581,114
70	91	89	Mintz Levin	$216,500,000	373	$ 580,429
71	4	3	Jones Day	$1,190,000,000	2,076	$ 573,218
72	31	33	Reed Smith	$503,500,000	881	$ 571,510
73	6	7	White & Case	$953,000,000	1,685	$ 565,579
74	41	35	Hunton & Williams	$440,000,000	781	$ 563,380
75	89	86	Venable	$221,500,000	394	$ 562,183
76	90	93	Andrews Kurth	$217,000,000	394	$ 550,761
77	72	80	Duane Morris	$264,000,000	480	$ 550,000
78	96	107	Pepper Hamilton	$209,500,000	382	$ 548,429
79	76	81	Blank Rome	$247,500,000	459	$ 539,216
80	93	96	Patton Boggs	$213,000,000	396	$ 537,879
81	55	62	Kirkpatrick & Lockhart	$372,500,000	697	$ 534,433
82	80	84	Kilpatrick Stockton	$236,000,000	442	$ 533,937
83	65	59	Dorsey & Whitney	$330,000,000	619	$ 533,118
84	66	73	Seyfarth Shaw	$313,000,000	603	$ 519,071
85	75	74	Shook, Hardy	$252,500,000	490	$ 515,306
86	55	45	Bryan Cave	$372,500,000	726	$ 513,085
87	95	98	Haynes and Boone	$210,500,000	419	$ 502,387
88	63	65	McGuireWoods	$344,000,000	686	$ 501,458
89	92	88	Drinker Biddle	$213,500,000	426	$ 501,174
90	68	72	Perkins Coie	$297,000,000	603	$ 492,537
91	81	90	Womble Carlyle	$233,000,000	475	$ 490,526
92	100	102	Ballard Spahr	$200,000,000	412	$ 485,437
93	27	24	Holland & Knight	$551,000,000	1,155	$ 477,056
94	71	70	Baker & Hostetler	$284,000,000	605	$ 469,421
95	99	105	Faegre & Benson	$204,500,000	456	$ 448,465
96	98	101	Cozen O'Connor	$205,500,000	463	$ 443,844
97	97	97	Troutman Sanders	$206,500,000	468	$ 441,239
98	83	75	Coudert Brothers	$230,000,000	552	$ 416,667
99	2	2	Baker & McKenzie	$1,228,000,000	2,992	$ 410,428
100	88	91	Wilson, Elser	$222,000,000	675	$ 328,889
			Total (average):	$46,042,000,000	68,186	$ 675,241