Andrew Baker, who became the managing partner of Houston’s Baker Botts in the spring of 2012, says he made "investments" in "future growth" during his first year in that role. The firm opened a new office in Brussels, almost opened one in Rio (with just "a drop of paperwork" remaining to finish that opening, Baker says) and increased its office space in its Palo Alto branch.

Those events help explain why profits per partner at the firm shrank by 2.2 percent to $1,360,000.