For the second straight year, key financial metrics took a hit at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, with revenue per lawyer dropping 2.8 percent, to $1.035 million, and profits per partner declining 6.8 percent, to $2.06 million. Gross revenue dropped 3.7 percent, to $463.5 million. The declines follow a tough 2014, when RPL fell 3.2 percent and PPP dropped 15.3 percent on flat revenue.

Nonetheless, managing partner Patrick Quinn says that he is “actually very, very pleased with the year that we had” and that the firm is “growing in smart ways.” He notes, for instance, that Cadwalader moved from 47th to 14th place in The American Lawyer’s most recent associate satisfaction survey. That has helped the firm attract strong midlevels and recruit a larger first-year class, he says.