Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher was the 2019 Litigation Department of the Year winner. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM

Susman Godfrey defended Uber. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison represented pharmaceutical companies in the fallout from the opioid crisis. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher took on First Amendment issues.

There were 50 law firms up for The American Lawyer's 2019 Litigation Department of the Year award, ranging in size, revenue and achievements. The submissions offered a peek into how many of the country's top-end litigation departments operate.

At some firms, smaller litigation departments are bringing in a comparatively larger slice of the revenue pie.

Among the 50 law firm entrants, the litigation departments make up about 41% of overall firm head count, and at most firms the litigation department's size within the firm is equitable to the revenue percentage it brings in. But some firms have smaller teams bringing in comparatively larger chunks of firm revenue. Kirkland & Ellis' litigation department, for example, accounts for 30% of its overall head count and 36.4% of the firm's revenue in 2018.

Litigation departments at Weil, Gotshal & Manges; Winston & Strawn; Jones Day; DLA Piper; Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe; Hogan Lovells; and Greenberg Traurig also fetched a portion of firm revenue larger than their department size in 2018.

At many more firms, including Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Hunton Andrews Kurth, the spread was more balanced, and the litigation departments brought in a proportionate amount of revenue for their size within the firm.

Some firms had a larger litigation department bringing in a smaller portion of the firm's revenue, including Sidley Austin and Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer, where the litigation department comprises 61% of the firm's lawyers and brought in 47.4% of firm revenue last year.

Of course, revenue is only one indicator of a department's health, especially when law firms specialize in other, more lucrative practice areas. It's not necessarily a sign that a litigation department is less effective: 2019 Litigation Department of the Year winner Gibson Dunn's team comprises 56.8% of the firm's lawyers and took in 54.7% of its revenue in 2018.

Of the 50 entrants, 17 firms declined to provide what percentage of overall revenue was attributed to their litigation department.

Most litigation departments make up less than half of the head count at their firms.

Only 19 of the 50 law firms have litigation departments that consist of at least half of the firm's total head count. This includes six all-litigation firms⁠—Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein; Boies Schiller Flexner; Keker, Van Nest & Peters; Wilkinson Walsh + Eskovitz; Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan; and Kaplan Hecker & Fink⁠—and one firm, Williams & Connolly, that said its litigation department comprises 99% of the firm's head count.

On the other end of the spectrum, five firms reported their litigation departments contain one-quarter or less of their head count: Fenwick & West; DLA Piper; Willkie Farr & Gallagher; Proskauer Rose; and Simpson Thatcher.

Most litigation departments brought in less than half of their firm's overall revenue.

Of the 33 firms that provided the percentage of revenue their litigation department brought in, only 12 said litigation department revenue accounted for more than half of the firm's overall revenue.

More than half of firms said their litigation departments brought in less than half of their overall revenue, and Latham & Watkins, Willkie, Proskauer and Simpson Thacher all said their litigation departments brought in a quarter or less of their overall revenue.

Most litigation departments have a few hundred attorneys.

The average size of a respondent's entire litigation department, including partners, associates and other attorneys, is 383 lawyers. Quinn Emanuel has the largest head count by far, and at 1,011 attorneys, it is the only respondent that exceeds 1,000 litigators. The rest of the 10 largest litigation firms to enter the contest, based on department head count, are: Hogan Lovells; Morgan, Lewis & Bockius; Kirkland; Sidley; Gibson Dunn; Latham; Jones Day; King & Spalding; and Covington & Burling.

Seven firms said they have litigation departments with fewer than 100 total attorneys: Fenwick, with 98; Keker Van Nest, with 95; Lieff Cabraser, with 94; Watchell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, with 77;  Farella Braun + Martel, with 71; Wilkinson Walsh, with 41; and Kaplan Hecker, with 22.

At a few firms, litigation partners overwhelm litigation associates, but that's far from the norm.

About one-fifth of award entrants are leverage outliers with more litigation partners in their departments than associates: Lieff Cabraser; Thompson & Knight; Shook, Hardy & Bacon; Farella Braun; Greenberg Traurig; Kirkland; Boies Schiller; Norton Rose Fulbright; McGuireWoods; DLA Piper; and Alston & Bird.

But most of the firms said their litigation departments are overwhelmingly associate-heavy. Jones Day has 41 partners and 56 associates; Paul Weiss has 61 partners and 298 associates; Davis Polk & Wardwell has 41 partners and 190 associates; Cravath, Swaine & Moore has 34 partners and 146 associates; and Debevoise & Plimpton has 53 partners and 293 associates.

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