Some 147,518 lawyers worked at NLJ 350 firms last year, just 900 more than the year before — a negligible 0.6 percent increase. The average firm size inched up by three lawyers to 421. Gains were in the nonequity partner and staff lawyer categories.
METHODOLOGY: For the NLJ 350 survey of the nation’s largest law firms, lawyer totals are based on the average number of full-time equivalent attorneys for the period between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2014. The National Law Journal sent surveys to more than 400 firms to determine the 350 largest. A firm must have more lawyers based on the United States than in any other single country to be included on the list. Lawyer counts do not include contract or temporary attorneys. Firms are ranked by the number of full-time equivalent attorneys, rather than by their actual head counts. Numbers are rounded to the nearest whole number. In case of a tie, we rank firms by the total number of partners. If the tie persists, we rank firms by the total number of equity partners. The city appearing next to the law firm’s name in the rankings chart is the location of its largest U.S. office.
