The great American legal juggernaut rolls on. In the last calendar year, the top 50 firms in the US generated fee income of $36bn (£20.1bn) between them, an increase of 11.5%, while partner profits were up by a robust 10.5% to an average across the leading 50 of $1.35m (£756,000). This follows similar performances in 2003 and 2004, when profits and fee income both saw growth well into double figures.
Not that there is much mystery to such a generally expansive performance. Certainly the US’ corporate lawyers are getting richer, thanks to the continued health of the domestic M&A market, which rose a third in deal value to hit $1.1trn (£615bn) last year, according to Thomson Financial.
