Bowman Brown, chairman, Shutts & Bowen

Shutts & Bowen just keeps on growing.

For the 21st straight year, the Florida-based law firm saw increases in both profit and revenue, according to firm preliminary numbers submitted by the firm. Gross revenue grew 6.5% in 2019, from $172.1 million to $183.3 million. Profits per equity partner increased 7.3%, from $873,000 to $937,000. And revenue per lawyer grew 1.7%, from $637,000 to $648,000.

The growth was a bit slower than the double-digit profit and revenue increases the firm reported in 2018 — a blockbuster year for nearly all law firms — but firm chairman Bowman Brown found no reasons to fret.

"We really hit it out of the park last year," Brown said.

The more than two-decade span of consistent growth raises several questions: When will the firm stop growing? Will Bowman and firm management want to take on the challenges that come with a large firm, especially as competition increases from firms such as Morrison Foerster and Dentons, which have made a push in Florida? Or will they try to maintain their regional dominance and smaller size?

For now, Brown is focused on the short-term — bringing on laterals and business while continuing to build market share in the eight Florida markets where the firm has a presence.

"We'll bring on management staff as we feel we need to," he said.

Matters continued to roll in from firm clients including Blackstone, KKR and Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co., the latter a client of firm partner John Meagher, who was named managing partner of Shutts' Miami office in March.

In June, Shutts announced that it is representing the City of Miami as the city negotiates the parameters of its soccer stadium deal with David Beckham and his Major League Soccer team Inter Miami CF. The firm also helped recover $49 million on behalf of its client, LS Energia, in a case filed against the Angolan government.

The firm continued to build out its 15-attorney appellate practice with the addition of Greenberg Traurig's Miami appellate chair, Julissa Rodriguez, who went to work immediately on one of the firm's 18 Florida Supreme Court civil cases. The firm again dipped into Greenberg's ranks when it brought over litigation partners David Batista and Sara Levy, who joined the firm's insurance practice group in Fort Lauderdale.

In 2019, Shutts' overall head count grew by 4.8%, from 270 to 283. The firm added a net of one equity partner, bringing the total to 89. It added 11 nonequity partners, increasing its nonequity ranks by 10.4%. According to ALM data, the firm did not lose any partners to rival Am Law 200 firms — a point of pride for Bowman.

"We really do have a differentiating culture and very low turnover," he said," especially in the partner ranks."

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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Shutts & Bowen Posts 11 Percent Growth in Revenue and Profits Amid Increased Head Count