Photo: J. Albert Diaz/ALM

Holland & Knight generated more than a billion dollars in revenue in 2019 — a financial record for the firm and almost double its revenue coming out of the 2008 recession.

Gross revenue at the Florida-founded firm grew by 12.2% last year to $1.03 billion from $915 million. Even with more equity partners on board, average profit per equity partner saw a 10% increase to $1.57 million from $1.42 million. And revenue per lawyer grew 5.6% to $847,000 from $802,000.

Net income for the year rose 24% to $325 million from $263 million.

The breakthrough is a watershed moment for managing partner Steve Sonberg, who took the reins of a much smaller firm in the midst of the recession in 2008. In 2009, the firm posted revenue of $546 million and employed 934 lawyers, according to ALM data.

About a decade later, the firm now boasts 1,212 lawyers among offices in 28 cities, growing revenue by $481 million. Sonberg attributes this growth to the strategy the firm implemented in 2011, which prioritized U.S. dominance over international reach. Around 94% of the firm's attorneys work in the U.S.

Steve Sonberg, Managing partner, Holland & Knight.

"That focus was to maintain a concentrated effort on the U.S. market as well as Latin America and not getting distracted by looking east and west," Sonberg said. "That strategy has worked very well for us."

The firm has three international offices. In 2019, its Mexico City and Bogata, Colombia, offices housed 24 and 34 attorneys, respectively. The firm's London office is staffed with an aviation and maritime transportation finance team led by Robert Ricketts and employs just 10 attorneys.

Sonberg said they will double down on their U.S. focus in the coming years, even as it pushes further into the rarefied air of the Am Law 50 where many have made the pivot toward international locations.

"There's a very elite group of firms I think that dominate the No. 1 to No. 25 spots, and I think they have a different practice than we have," Sonberg said. "We have a very diverse practice, more so than a lot of them. I think we're trying to make our practice better, not emulate or copy somebody else's practice."

Over the decade, the firm's once-small transactional practice is now larger than its litigation department, with 250 attorneys deployed in the financial services space serving nearly every major financial institution including Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Capital One and PNC Bank.

Another 225 attorneys work in the corporate mergers and acquisitions space, with a third of those lawyers servicing private equity clients, as the firm carves out a high-volume mid-market M&A practice. Last year, Bloomberg ranked the firm as No. 20 in mid-market transactions up to $500 million and No. 17 for transactions up to $250 million by volume of deals.

The growth should push the firm up in the Am Law 100 rankings after landing at 43 last year.

Roughly 20% of the firm's ranks are real estate attorneys, making that practice area one of the largest among full-service law firms, Sonberg said. Last year, the firm advised Verizon on the $1 billion sale of its Sunnyvale, California, campus to Google. In Florida, the firm helped soccer star David Beckham secure a $50 million loan to finance a stadium for his Major League Soccer team Inter Miami CF. And in Mexico City, Holland & Knight helped advise Mexican real estate trust Fibra Uno on the $841 million purchase of an industrial property.

Holland & Knight's equity partnership grew by 13% to 208 from 184. The firm added 71 lawyers at a growth rate of 6.2% in 2019.

Perhaps the firm's largest single group hire came when David Spector, who briefly ran Akerman, jumped to Holland & Knight, bringing along his fraud and recovery practice and 12 attorneys.

The firm further bolstered its M&A ranks by hiring Craig Circosta, who had led Ballard Spahr's M&A practice; DLA Piper private equity partner Omari Sealy; and McDermott Will & Emery partner Matthew Bielen.

In notable real estate hires, Holland & Knight lured away a six-attorney team led by partner Noah Shapiro from Haynes and Boone in New York, as well Nelson Mullins Broad and Cassel real estate attorney Sara Bernard in Orlando.

As for leadership changes, former Latham & Watkins diversity executive Yusuf Zakir jumped to Holland & Knight as director of diversity and inclusion.

And in Miami, former U.S. Attorney Wifredo Ferrer succeeded Kelly-Ann Cartwright as executive partner of the firm's largest office.

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Holland & Knight Reports Increase in Revenue