White & Case chair Hugh Verrier.

More than halfway into an ambitious five-year growth plan, White & Case has crossed the $2bn mark in annual revenues for the first time.

Gross revenue grew $210m in 2018 to $2.05bn, a 13.7% increase from the prior year, according to preliminary ALM reporting. Revenue per lawyer jumped 7.8% to $954,000 while profit per equity partner (PEP) increased 6.2% to $2.4m.

The figures represent the eighth straight year of profit growth for the global firm.

Thanks in part to new office openings in the US, White & Case's headcount jumped 5.4% to 2,150 lawyers across the firm's 44 offices worldwide. The number of equity partners grew 7.2%, from 319 to 342 in 2018, and the non-equity partnership also increased in size, growing 5% last year to 188 lawyers.

"Another year of very strong growth, especially in the US with thriving new offices in Houston and Chicago and record results across the board," is how White & Case chairman Hugh Verrier summed up the firm's performance last year.

Verrier took over leadership of the firm in 2007, and in 2015 he was re-elected to his third term as chair. He will be up for re-election in September.

While 2018 was a robust year for the overall global economy, Verrier said White & Case's financial performance last year had direct roots in the firm's five-year strategy.

After maintaining a relatively flat headcount in the years following the global recession, the firm determined in 2015 to increase its bench strength in New York and London, with a target of 500 lawyers in those cities by 2020. The strategy also called for targeted growth in the M&A, private equity, capital markets and disputes practices.

Thanks to strong performances in these practice areas and others, Verrier said White & Case has already surpassed some of its key financial goals two years ahead of its 2020 target.

The M&A and corporate practice handled more than $380bn in transactions work last year, which included representation of SodaStream International in its $3.2bn sale to PepsiCo. The firm's capital markets practice represented Avast in its $816m initial public offering – the largest-ever software IPO on the London Stock Exchange.

A London team also recently advised SoftBank's Vision Fund on its investment in British unicorn OakNorth to value the company at $2.8bn, in what will be the largest-ever European fintech fundraising. The team was led by private equity partners Ian Bagshaw, Emmie Jones and M&A partner Daniel Turgel.

Verrier also cited strong results for the firm's financial restructuring and insolvency practice and its project development and finance practice, the latter of which was bolstered by its expansion in Australia and the opening of its Houston office.

Last February, the firm added Vinson & Elkins oil and gas partner James 'Jay' Cuclis, Andrew Kurth Kenyon partner Charlie Ofner, and Saul Daniel, an England-qualified partner who previously practised in the firm's London office, to open in Houston.

The Texas outpost has since expanded to about 30 lawyers, with lateral additions including Kirkland & Ellis partner Chad McCormick, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld partner Steven Otillar, Paul Hastings partner Steven Tredennick and King & Spalding's David Strickland and Jorge Mattamouros.

The Chicago office has also expanded rapidly since opening last summer, boasting a headcount of about 25 lawyers following a series of lateral additions from Greenberg Traurig and DLA Piper, and a 13-lawyer group from the Chicago office of national real estate firm Pircher, Nichols & Meeks.

Notable 2018 laterals in London included Kirkland & Ellis capital markets partner Gilles Teerlinck and JPMorgan Chase executive director and assistant general counsel Julia Smithers Excell.

The firm also opened an office in Uzbekistan early last year.

Verrier said White & Case is "not slowing down investing in key lateral partners". But given signs of a potential economic downturn on the horizon, he said the firm will exercise some caution on overall headcount growth.

One of White & Case's five-year plan goals that it has yet to meet is to surpass $1m in revenue per lawyer. But Verrier said he's confident that the firm is close.

"I think we can do it this year," he said.