As we closed out the October edition of The American Lawyer, we had our eye on expansion of several kinds.

First and foremost, our Global 100 report shows substantial growth in revenue and head count among the world's 100 largest law firms by gross revenue. Steady demand along with some new entrants with high lawyer head count have led to a bigger rise in gross revenue than the global market has seen in several years.

The list is also more geographically expansive, as four new firms with significant roots in China made it onto the Global 100. Speaking of China, our China 45 report, also out this month, has grown from the China 40 last year and includes detailed profitability numbers on all of those firms.

And for the first time, we have expanded our Global survey to include 200 firms. The ranking of the Global Second Hundred based on gross revenue will publish in our November edition, offering a deeper glimpse into the financials behind the biggest players across the entire legal industry. That will be coupled with the Asia 50 report, which will examine how firms from around the world are succeeding in Asia.

You will notice an increasingly global focus in our coverage, as our audience looks to adapt to the increasingly global needs of clients. But as our story on global markets in this edition highlights, many firms are focusing their efforts back onto the United States, which, after all, remains the most profitable legal market in the world.

Another change you will notice in this edition is our use of a new acronym to describe everyone's favorite financial metric, profits per equity partner. We will now refer to that metric as PEP rather than PPP, the latter of which we felt could too easily be confused with profits for all partners, an increasingly used metric.

On a more personal front, I'll be spending more time at home over the next three months as we expand our family to welcome our second child. I look forward to following what's happening in the industry, albeit more likely from 2 a.m. scans of Twitter than meetings with law firm leadership. I'll be back in December and ready to hit the ground running with The American Lawyer Industry Awards. In the mean time, you are in the exceptionally capable hands of managing editor Ben Seal, who has some great things planned for the next few editions and beyond.

I encourage everyone to reach out to Ben with story ideas and just to get to know him if you haven't already. He can be reached at [email protected].

Here's to a successful fourth quarter. Good luck with collections, comp setting, strategic planning and, oh yes, the actual legal work! I'll be checking email and welcome tips of another sort—on parenting more than one child, getting infants to sleep through the night and other of life's mysteries.