Propelled by a strong 2018, Fenwick & West grew its client base meaningfully in 2019 and began to see returns on that investment with another year of solid financial growth.

The California-based firm posted revenue gains of 9.8% in 2019, growing to $471.9 million from $429.7 million in 2018.

"We're building one really strong year on top of another. The last two have been outstanding," said Richard Dickson, Fenwick's chair. The firm said that in the last two years, it grew net income by more than 40%; gross revenue by more than 25%; revenue per lawyer by 12%; and profits per equity partner by 43%.

Dickson highlighted that the firm's continued success has been due to its "razor-sharp" focus on technology and life sciences.

"For us, life sciences has grown even faster than the extraordinary growth we're enjoying as a firm overall, and clients are driving that success," he said.

Dickson pointed to the firm's corporate and litigation practices, in addition to its M&A, capital markets and emerging company practices, as additional drivers of financial success.

In the last two years, the firm has played a part in multiple multibillion-dollar deals. It represented Symantec in selling its enterprise security assets to Broadcom; Loxo Oncology in its $8 billion acquisition by Lilly; Audentes Therapeutics in its $3 billion sale to Astellas Pharma; Shutterfly's $2.7 billion sale to Apollo Global Management; Cisco's $2.6 billion acquisition of Acacia Communications; and Fitbit's $2.1 billion sale to Google.

The firm has also been involved in high-profile litigation during the last two years, representing Amazon, Uber, Tesla, GoPro, Peloton and others.

Fenwick's revenue per lawyer grew 6.2%, up to $1.363 million in 2019 from $1.283 million the previous year. The firm's other financials increased more dramatically in 2019: profits per equity partner were up 19.2%, to $2.169 million; all-partner compensation rose 18.1%, to $1.91 million; net income grew 18.7%, to $178.7 million; and nonequity compensation was up 24.2%, to $14.07 million.

The firm's head count in 2019 was more steady. It ended the year with 346 total attorneys, up from 335 in 2018. Of the 101 total partners—one more than the previous year—82 were equity, compared with 83 in the previous year, and 19 were nonequity, compared with 17 in 2018.

Some of the key costs for the firm in 2019 were tied to supporting attorneys and staff, Dickson said. Fenwick has invested in talent development, training and tools, and its C-suite—the firm hired a new chief talent officer in January, Neha Shah Nissen, and is planning to bring in a diversity-focused business professional to help the firm expand diversity and inclusion efforts. Overall, Dickson said the personnel-side investments have paid off in the form of a tight-knit, collaborative and competitive group of attorneys.

"We've never had a better aligned or higher performing partnership than we do today," he said. "We're constantly trying to develop and strengthen our overall talent, and we've set ourselves up extremely well."

Looking to 2020, Dickson said he is expecting another year of growth and said the firm has already expanded its geographic footprint and head count. Fenwick opened its Santa Monica, California, office in March of last year and continued growing its presence there throughout 2019. Dickson said the office is set to reach 22 attorneys, and that the rapid growth in that location is similar to its New York office, which opened in 2016 with three attorneys and exceeded conservative growth expectations by ballooning to more than 70 lawyers.

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