In 2010, gross revenue at Dallas-based Gardere Wynne Sewell dropped 15.9 percent to $157.5 million from $187.2 million in 2009. The firm’s 2010 net income was $63.2 million, a 29.5 percent decline compared to $89.6 million in 2009. The main reason for the 2010 numbers is that Gardere had a hard time repeating its 2009 performance, managing partner Stephen D. Good says. “In 2009 we had such a great year, and a big part of that was alternative fees [that were] nonrecurring,” Good says. “Overall, just our regular income, we were pleased with it. It was consistent with FY 2010, if you adjust for the nonrecurring income,” he says. The nonrecurring income to which Good refers comes from a couple of contingent-fee cases that paid off for the firm in 2009, resulting in Gardere’s best gross revenue ever. 2009 “is when we recovered on them. And this year [2010] we were in the investment mode. It’s still part of our strategy,” Good says. Average profits per partner were $854,000 in 2010, and revenue per lawyer came in at $656,000. PPP and RPL are calculated using a full-year average FTE (full-time equivalent) of 240 lawyers and 74 equity partners.
See ” Turning the Corner: The Worst Appears to Be Over for Texas Firms“
