If 2017 was a good year for law firms, 2018 was better. On the heels of a year considered to be the strongest for the Am Law 100 since the Great Recession, the nation’s top law firms took their performance a step further. On aggregate, revenue grew at a muscular 8 percent clip over the last year, hitting a record $98.7 billion. That’s well past the 5.5 percent growth rate from 2017, the previous high-water mark in the post-recession new normal.

Beyond gross revenue, the Am Law 100 also saw a jump in revenue per lawyer. When growth in RPL, often considered the best barometer of law firm financial health, slowed to 1.5 percent in 2016, it sowed concern that a slump was brewing. But the overall figure accelerated first by 3.2 percent in 2017 and now by 4.2 percent in 2018, the ­highest growth since 2010. The average for the Am Law 100 is now at $975,982.

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