March 17, 2010 2:17 PM

THE AM LAW 100: Fried Frank Profits Rise; Revenue Falls 13 Percent

Posted by Susan Beck

Like many firms, Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson is managing to do more with less. The firm reported a 13 percent decline in revenue for its fiscal year ending February 28, but still boosted its profits per equity partner and its revenue per lawyer by 6 percent each. That’s in part because the firm reduced the number of lawyers by 18 percent and its equity partner ranks fell by 14 percent.

The firm also for the first time has created a small class of four nonequity partners. “We are very pleased with the year,” said firm chairman Valerie Ford Jacob. “It is the firm’s third most profitable year and we are on the right trajectory.”

Measured by percentage, Fried Frank has seen one of the biggest drops in head count among the Am Law 200 firms, according to sibling publication The National Law Journal. It lost 100 lawyers in the period from August 31, 2008, to August 31, 2009, bringing its ranks to 469 lawyers. The firm laid off 41 associates last March and significantly reduced some of its foreign offices.

Fried Frank’s profits per equity partner rose from $1.228 million to $1.3 million. Revenue per lawyer increased from $858,000 to $906,000.

This report is part of The Am Law Daily's ongoing Web coverage of 2009 financial results of The Am Law 100/200. Results are preliminary. Final rankings and full results for The Am Law 100 will be published in The American Lawyer's May 2010 issue and on AmericanLawyer.com. The Am Law Second Hundred will be published in the June issue.

The final published results of last year's Am Law 100 rankings are available here; the Second Hundred results are available here.

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