Paul Hastings, riding high from several consecutive years of financial success, saw its performance continue to rise across all metrics in 2016.

"Clients have been demanding more value, which meant we needed to invest more in the fastest-growing practices and industry areas," said Paul Hastings chair Seth Zachary (pictured). "In turn, they helped us to have our fifth record-setting year by partnering with them on their biggest challenges and most successful new ventures and resolutions."

Paul Hastings, which last saw gross revenue fall in 2011, saw that figure increase 1.7% last year to $1.074bn (£860m). Profits per partner jumped 4% to $2.6m (£2.1m), while revenue per lawyer held steady, rising 0.4% from the year before, to $1.165m (£933,000).

Zachary credits Paul Hastings' performance to strong demand for the firm's finance, intellectual property (IP) and investigations and white-collar practices.

"They've just been growing aggressively to the delight of the whole firm," said Zachary, noting that all three groups have had a strong start in 2017.

The firm's white-collar group advised on several global investigations last year, including advising GlaxoSmithKline on its $20m (£16m) settlement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission following a five-year probe. Paul Hastings also represented Brazil's Braskem on its part of a massive $2.6bn (£2.1bn) settlement stemming from the petrochemical company's role in the country's 'Operation Car Wash' corruption scandal.

The firm's finance group also picked up roles on several multibillion-dollar deals, advising Wells Fargo on its purchase of a portion of General Electric's (GE) financial unit, part of a $26.5bn (£21.2bn) asset sale by GE.

The firm's Houston office, which opened in 2012, had a strong year in the energy M&A arena. Paul Hastings advised longstanding client Samsung on its $8bn (£6.4bn) buy late last year of automotive technology company Harman, the largest ever acquisition by a South Korean company.

Headcount also rose slightly last year, to 921, thanks in part to some lateral partner hires in its top-performing practice areas. In July, the firm brought back former litigation chair Thomas Zaccaro by bolting on his six-lawyer securities enforcement boutique Zaccaro Morgan in Los Angeles. The firm's corporate practice, which earlier this month absorbed a team of lawyers from Boies Schiller Flexner in New York, made a high profile lateral raid on Shearman & Sterling in San Francisco last summer by bringing on M&A partners Steve Camahort, Michael Kennedy and Dana Kromm.

And in London, a key region of expansion for Paul Hastings in recent years, the firm added Allen & Overy counsel James Taylor for its finance practice, as well as a three-partner finance team from Ashurst led by Diala Minott, Cameron Saylor and Michael Smith. Paul Hastings did however see Ashurst leveraged finance partner Nigel Ward opt against a potential move to the firm.

Despite those additions, the total number of equity partners at Paul Hastings fell 2.6% last year, to 190. The firm saw banking and payment systems chair Gerard Comizio leave its office in Washington DC for Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson, while Allen & Overy recruited a three-partner finance team in New York.

Zachary said Paul Hastings is committed to expanding its M&A and private equity practices, as well as its presence in the Bay Area, where the firm has offices in San Francisco and Silicon Valley. Real estate, a crucial component of any large firm's bottom line, has been a crucial cog in Paul Hastings' recent run of success.