Revenue, Partner Profits Hit New Highs at Paul Hastings
Chairman Seth Zachary outlined a strategy that's simple, at least on its face: Win more work, and more complex work.
February 27, 2019 at 10:25 AM
4 minute read
Profits per equity partner jumped 12 percent to $3.25 million last year at Paul Hastings, marking a nearly 25 percent increase over the past two years.
The firm's top line also reached a new high, with gross revenue climbing 9.1 percent to $1.22 billion in 2018, according to preliminary ALM reporting. That represents the seventh year of continuous revenue growth at the firm.
Revenue per lawyer also increased 6 percent, reaching $1.29 million.
Attorney head count ticked up 2.9 percent, from 921 lawyers to 948 in 2018, while the firm's equity partner ranks contracted 1.6 percent to 187, down from 190 equity partners in 2017. Its nonequity partner tier grew by 2.4 percent to 84 partners last year.
“Our strategy continues to be to win a great share of our clients' most important and complex work,” said New York-based Paul Hastings' chairman Seth Zachary, who has led the firm since 2000.
That straightforward approach has paid off, he said, with increased demand and realization rising along with the stakes and sophistication of client matters. Client demand rose nearly 4.5 percent in 2018, Zachary said.
In particular, last year's performance was driven by the firm's finance and funds, private equity, investigations and white-collar, intellectual property and life sciences practices, he said.
“We had strong years almost everywhere,” Zachary said. “It isn't about a big case or a big team or a big partner, it's just a continuing improvement and acceleration in the improvement of our practice and our platform, and we're delighted about that.”
Following on its work on the $9.1 billion acquisition of Cequel III Communications by Suddenlink in 2015, the firm led the representation of Credit Suisse Group and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in connection with more than $5.5 billion in notes exchanged by Altice Corp. and Cequel Communications.
It also continued its representation of the unsecured creditors' committee in Puerto Rico's bankruptcy, the largest municipal bankruptcy filing ever in the U.S.
The firm also advised Beijing-based private equity firm CDH Investments on its $1.4 billion acquisition of shares of Sirtex Medical, an Australian-based medical device company. It also advised Coralville, Iowa-based life sciences company Integrated DNA Technologies Inc. in its $2 billion sale to Danaher Corp.
Paul Hastings' IP practice represented German drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim in its patent infringement case against six generic drug firms, which earned it the award for IP Team of the Year in ALM sibling publication Legal Week's Transatlantic Legal Awards.
Across the Atlantic, Paul Hastings' London office also had a superb year, Zachary said, noting a 14 percent increase in revenue to $92.4 million.
The firm also made several key lateral hires in its London office, adding longtime Linklaters corporate partner Roger Barron, DLA Piper private equity partner Anu Balasubramanian and Cooley cybersecurity partner Sarah Pearce. It also added Baker McKenzie financial services and regulatory partner Arun Srivastava as head of the firm's regulatory and fintech and payments practices in London.
In the U.S., the firm opened its second Los Angeles office in Century City in March with Loeb & Loeb entertainment lawyers Craig Emanuel, Mickey Mayerson, Stephen Saltzman and Susan Zuckerman Williams. They were later joined by six other Loeb & Loeb attorneys, including partner Erik Hyman, to build out Paul Hastings' entertainment and media practice in its new California office.
In New York, the firm added Jones Day restructuring partner Pedro Jimenez and private funds partner Ira Kustin from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, as well as the head of Simpson Thacher & Barlett's derivatives practice, Joyce Xu.
Zachary, who was elected to his seventh and final term in late 2017, said the firm will continue to expand in London, New York and Washington, D.C., as well as in Century City, the Bay Area and Palo Alto, where it recently added the global head of White & Case's technology M&A practice and co-head of its global technology industry group, William Choe, as well as M&A partner Jason Rabbitt-Tomita.
“We're very optimistic about this year, and we're optimistic because we're seeing lots of the avenues of our progress last year continuing at the same pace,” Zachary said.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllFrom ‘Deep Sadness’ to Little Concern, Gaetz’s Nomination Draws Sharp Reaction From Lawyers
7 minute readDechert 'Spark Tank' Competition Encourages Firmwide Innovation Focus
Akerman Opens Charlotte Office With Focus on Renewable Energy, Data Center Practices
4 minute readTrending Stories
- 1Free Speech Causes a Neighborly Feud
- 2Read the Document: 'Google Must Divest Chrome,' DOJ Says, Proposing Remedies in Search Monopoly Case
- 3Voir Dire Voyeur: I Find Out What Kind of Juror I’d Be
- 4When It Comes to Local Law 97 Compliance, You’ve Gotta Have (Good) Faith
- 5Legal Speak at General Counsel Conference East 2024: Virginia Griffith, Director of Business Development at OutsideGC
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250