For some law firms, becoming bigger, which comes with a promise of additional practice offerings, more locales, and a higher ranking on The Am Law 100, remains a goal. This in part explains the continued popularity of law firm mergers, the surest and fastest way to zoom up our gross revenue chart. Sixty firm mergers were announced in 2011, according to the consulting firm Altman Weil, Inc.a 54 percent increase from 2010 and the highest number since 2008.
A year ago, Atlanta’s Kilpatrick Stockton and San Francisco’s Townsend and Townsend and Crew were on our Second Hundred listTownsend at 170 and Kilpatrick in a tie at 114. But the combined Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, the result of a merger between the firms that became effective in January 2011, makes its Am Law 100 debut at number 78 with gross revenue of $362 million.
