Morrison & Foerster reported a double-digit increase in gross revenue, aided by strong growth in the firm's new Boston and Miami offices, as well as transnational work for large corporate clients Sprint and SoftBank.

Firm revenue increased 10% in the last fiscal year, from $1.04 billion to $1.15 billion. Revenue per lawyer saw a single-digit increase of 4%, from $1.09 million to $1.14 million as did average partner compensation, which grew 4.9% to roughly $1.5 million, compared to $1.43 million a year earlier, according to ALM data.

Profits per equity partner grew 3.3% to $2.05 million, signifying the first time the firm has surpassed the $2 million mark.

"Our 2019 performance comes on the heels of two prior exceptional years," said Larren Nashelsky, the firm's New York-based chairman.

The increase in PEP comes a year after the firm posted a staggering increase in PEP of 14%. That double-digit increase stemmed from a change in compensation, which dropped the firm's equity partner head count by 25% and increased its nonequity partner ranks by 50%.

But the surge in the firm's nonequity partnership appears to have subsided. Morrison & Foerster lost one nonequity partner in 2019 and added 14 equity partners. The firm said its total partner head count is composed of 128 nonequity partners and 181 equity partners in 2019.

Nashelsky said the change in the equity partnership numbers was not part of any overall plan.

"I don't know that it was a conscious strategy. We really are recruiting the best and the brightest. In some years they fall more in one category than the other," Nashelsky said.

Morrison & Foerster closed several key matters last year, including serving as lead counsel for Sprint in its merger with T-Mobile, which was green-lighted by the U.S. Department of Justice in July; advising on Salesforce's $15.7 billion acquisition of analytics platform Tableau Software alongside Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; and working with SoftBank as its go-to counsel amid a billion-dollar spending spree across the world.

In 2019, Morrison & Foerster broke the 1,000 head count mark, which grew from 951 to 1,005. It hired 42 lateral partners and opened two offices. Its new Boston office, which opened in February of last year, has grown to roughly 40 attorneys, including notable pick-ups such as Proskauer Rose corporate partner Ori Solomon and Todd Boudreau, former co-chair of Foley & Lardner's private funds and buyout practice.

The new Miami office launched in June as it poached nine Greenberg Traurig attorneys, including Greenberg's Miami corporate co-chair Randy Bullard, who made the jump to help serve firm client SoftBank. Since their move, Bullard and his team have advised on several SoftBank deals, with the latest being a $125 million Series B investment into Latin American fintech company AlphaCredit.

Other notable laterals include Chris Kandel, Latham & Watkins' banking co-chair who jumped over to Morrison & Foerster's London office in February; Jina Choi, who had led the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's San Francisco regional office; and former Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo partner Bethany Hills.

Morrison & Foerster did take some dings throughout the year. The firm lost four corporate partners to King & Spalding just before it shuttered its Northern Virginia office. The firm is also still facing a class-action "mommy-track" lawsuit filed on behalf of current or former employees who allege that the firm denied them advancement because of their pregnancies. Although the firm reached undisclosed settlements with five of the seven Jane Does, two are proceeding with their case. Morrison & Foerster has repeatedly denied the allegations.

Nashelsky said the firm is proud to have promoted 18 partners in 2020, eight of whom are women. He also noted that women co-chair or chair 20 practice groups within the firm.

Nashelsky said the firm is keeping an eye on potential changes to rules governing nonlawyer ownership and outside investment in law firms that are under review in the firm's home state of California. But the firm is "completely focused on being a law firm owned by its partners," he said.

"We made a growth in head count and talent, and growth in revenue and clients, which is evidence that the model is healthy," he added. "We don't see any changes in the short term."

Read More:

Partner Compensation Changes at Morrison & Foerster Lead to Equity Partner Drop, PEP Surge

MoFo Makes Big Boston Entrance With New 30-Lawyer Office

Morrison & Foerster Launches Latin America Practice With Nine From Greenberg Traurig