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K&L Gates was able to hold gross revenue flat between 2011 and 2012 thanks in large part to revenue gains in Europe and Asia while revenue fell in the United States.
The firm’s gross revenue in 2011 was $1.061 billion and came in at $1.06 billion in 2012. The largest bulk of that revenue — $924.9 million — came from U.S. operations in 2012. That was down 2.5 percent from the year before and K&L Gates attributed that to a 7 percent decrease in headcount in the Americas between 2011 and 2012.
K&L Gates had a strong year in Europe and the Middle East, increasing revenues in those markets by more than 17 percent from about $80 million to $93.8 million. The firm’s headcount in that region rose 13.4 percent year over year, including the opening of an office in Milan, K&L Gates said.
The firm’s Asia Pacific operations, which saw the addition of a new Seoul, South Korea, office in 2012, saw revenues grow 24.7 percent between 2011 and 2012 from $33.3 million to $41.5 million. Average headcount in those markets decreased 3.3 percent year over year, K&L Gates said.According to the firm, lawyer productivity was generally consistent year over year among its practices. But K&L Gates did note the intellectual property practice saw a near 10 percent increase in productivity between 2011 and 2012.
K&L Gates restated its 2011 revenue per lawyer (RPL), and subsequently switched its method for calculating 2012 RPL, to reflect the firm’s recategorization in 2012 of certain government affairs professionals from the category of “other legal professionals” to “lawyers.”
K&L Gates’ RPL in 2011, as restated, was about $594,000. That figure rose 3.9 percent in 2012 to about $616,000.
K&L Gates offered data for its average profits per all equity partners as well as more specific data for profits per “fully participating equity partners.”
The firm’s average profits for all equity partners rose 1.6 percent from about $627,000 in 2011 to $637,000 in 2012. In last year’s report for Legal affiliate The American Lawyer, K&L Gates’ per-partner profits were reflected as the profits for fully participating equity partners, which was about $890,000 in 2011. That figure rose about 1 percent in 2012 to about $900,000.
The total number of attorneys at K&L Gates dropped year over year. The firm had an average of 1,789 lawyers in 2011. That figure dropped by 3.9 percent to 1,720 attorneys in 2012. K&L Gates said headcount decreased as a result of attrition, but was partially offset by lateral additions and the decision to bring the fall 2011 class on board in September 2011 rather than the planned January 2012 start date.
The average number of equity partners in 2012 fell to 503 from 525 in 2011, a drop of 4.2 percent. The average number of fully participating equity partners fell by the same margin from 264 to 253.
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