Wayne Risoli, managing shareholder of Chamberlain, Hrdlicka, White, Williams & Martin, says 2010 was “wonderful year” for the firm. Gross revenue at the Houston-based firm came in at $63.7 million for 2010, up 4.1 percent compared to $61.2 million in 2009. Last year’s net income was $26.9 million, a drop of 1.8 percent compared to $27.4 million in 2009. “All in all, it was a very good year for us,” Risoli says of 2010. “Our tax section had a significant amount of work in all of our offices, our litigation section had a significant amount of new work, and our corporate section was flat, although we look at that as positive, given the economic headwinds last year,” he says. Average profits per partner came in at $673,000 in 2010, and revenue per lawyer was $601,000. Those numbers are based on a full-year average FTE (full-time equivalent) of 106 lawyers and 40 equity partners in 2010, which was unchanged from 2009. Tax work accounts for 28 percent of Chamberlain, Hrdlicka’s billings — the firm started in the 1960s as a tax boutique — and Risoli says in 2010 the firm reaped the benefit of a significant amount of tax work for a new Fortune 50 client. Additionally, Chamberlain, Hrdlicka’s office in Philadelphia had a “tremendous uptick” in tax work in 2010, with much of it attributed to one large tax case for a client he declines to name. Risoli says he declines to identify the firm’s tax clients because much of the work involves sensitive tax-controversy matters. “On tax law, our clients like to be quiet,” he says. Last year, corporate work was up marginally, he says, and the firm raised billing rates “modestly.”
See “Turning the Corner: The Worst Appears to Be Over for Texas Firms“
