A year after Dechert first climbed past the $1 billion mark, the firm posted double-digit gains in revenue in 2019.

Gross revenue grew by 11.1%, to $1.14 billion in 2019, up from $1.02 billion in 2018. Revenue per lawyer increased by 7.3%, to $1.2 million.

Profits grew at a slightly slower clip, which Dechert CEO Henry Nassau attributed to paying a very significant amount of expense repayments not due until this year in late 2019. Net income increased by 3.3%, to $462.4 million in 2019, compared with $447.7 million in 2018.

"We've had seven years of steady, very stable growth, and 2019 was an exceptional year, both on revenue and the increase in profitability," Nassau said.

While the firm saw strong performance across the board, Nassau singled out real estate, finance and products liability for terrific years.

Dechert realized a full year of performance from the 21-lawyer products liability team that it added in the middle of 2018 from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, led by Sheila Birnbaum, and the firm notched court wins for Pfizer in the Lipitor and Zoloft disputes. It's also representing Purdue Pharma in some 1,300 opioid matters, and defending Saint-Gobain in one of the United States' largest MDLs.

Representing Citi, the firm had a hand in the financing behind Blackstone's acquisition of a major industrial warehouse portfolio from Singapore-based GLP, the world's biggest private real estate deal ever.

Profits per equity partner also climbed 10% in 2019 to $3 million, up from $2.7 million the previous year. That figure was aided by a 6% dip in the number of equity partners, while the nonequity cohort grew by 25 lawyers, or over 20%.

Nassau attributed these numbers in part to natural attrition and retirement, but he also hinted that some partners had been deequitized.

"We pride ourselves on our financial discipline and rigor," he said. "To be an equity partner here requires significant effort and success."

The firm had a strong year in London, home of its third largest office, which Nassau attributed primarily to growth in litigation. He called Dechert's funds practice, which has a global presence beyond London, its most stable "year-in, year-out," and said the London corporate practice hasn't suffered, even with former London chairman Camille Abousleiman giving up his leadership role and partnership to join the Lebanese government at the start of 2019.

Dechert increased its rates over 3% in 2019, and Nassau expects to see similar rate growth in 2020, commensurate with the rest of the market.

Nassau said the firm has also invested significantly in initiatives aimed at preserving and improving the firm's culture—examples include inclusive leadership training and expanded parental leave. The latter went into effect in the U.S. in late 2018 and is now being rolled out in London.

"One of the things we spend a lot of time focused on is making sure that Dechert is considered a special place to be a lawyer," he said. "We want our associates and partners to feel that they're part of a special institution where quality means something."

Looking forward, he expects the firm to continue to be active in pursuing growth through lateral hires.

And even acknowledging significant challenges to the Big Law operating model, Nassau said that 2020 is off to a strong start, with significant large loans being deployed to real estate and continuing optimal conditions for midmarket private equity work.

"Our core practice areas of real estate, finance and product liability continue to be doing well and our large offices—New York, Philadelphia and London—continue to be busy in all practice groups," he said. 

The 2019 financial figures reported in this story are preliminary. ALM will report finalized data for the Am Law 200 in The American Lawyer's May and June issues.

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