Mayer Brown had a record 2017, with revenue eclipsing the firm's pre-recession highs for the first time and profits per equity partner rising 8.8 percent to $1.575 million.

Revenue at the Chicago-founded firm grew 4.2 percent in 2017 to $1.313 billion, according to preliminary ALM data. The firm's lawyer and partner head count both narrowly declined, pushing revenue per lawyer up 5.3 percent over the prior year, to $836,000.

“2017 represented a continuation of a multiyear trend in deepening and improving our relationships with our clients and with one another,” said firm chairman Paul Theiss. “The result of that was a record financial year. And we thank our clients for that.”

Overall attorney head count declined 0.9 percent to 1,571, while the equity partnership contracted by 1.4 percent, for 292 partners last year. The modest declines came after a relative growth spurt in 2016.

Theiss, who has led the firm since 2012, said its performance across practices was relatively even, adding it “would be hard to pick out a particular practice area” that drove the firm's revenue and profit growth.

He did note, however, that the firm's international insurance practice had a record year in 2017. That practice recently added well-known litigator Robert Harrell from Norton Rose Fulbright in Houston. Brian McKenna, a corporate and securities partner the firm added from Debevoise & Plimpton in Hong Kong last month, also represents insurance companies.

Mayer Brown hired 18 lateral partners last year, compared to 49 in 2016. Notable 2017 additions include a real estate financing duo in Los Angeles, M. Scott Cooper and Daniel Liffmann, who joined from Sidley Austin. And the firm picked up three partners in Asia in August, two of whom came from Standard Chartered Bank Ltd., to co-lead a trade and structured finance practice in Asia.

Playing Catch Up

Mayer Brown has seen revenue growth for six straight years. And since Theiss took the reins in 2012, revenue has grown 20 percent and profits per partner are up 38 percent.

Nonetheless, it is one of the last law firms of its size to exceed revenue posted for fiscal year 2008, which was the pre-recession high-water mark for most firms.

Among the law firms to rank in the Am Law 20 last year, the only firm that took longer than Mayer Brown to reach its pre-recession revenue mark was Weil, Gotshal & Manges. Weil's revenue topped out in 2009 at $1.233 billion, and it beat that number for the first time in 2016, when it brought in $1.266 billion.

Among firms that ranked in the Am Law 20 in 2009—a club that included Mayer Brown with its $1.294 billion in revenue—there are only two firms that have failed to beat their revenue performance from that year. Those are McDermott Will & Emery and now-defunct Dewey & LeBoeuf, which collapsed in 2012. McDermott posted $966 million in revenue in 2008. Its best year since 2016 when it reached $908.5 million. (McDermott's 2017 revenue has not yet been reported.)

Theiss said Mayer Brown's performance ramped up through 2017, with the fourth quarter proving to be a better market—as many reports indicated.

“Certainly we saw increasing momentum through 2017, and we started out 2018 continuing that,” Theiss said. “We look forward to continuing to collaborate with our clients and grow those relationships. And if we're able to do that, then 2018 will be a successful year for us.”