McGuireWoods Boosts Revenue as Partner Profits Stay Steady
The firm ended 2017 with two new leaders and $30 million more in revenue than the prior year.
March 21, 2018 at 02:31 PM
4 minute read
Revenue grew by close to 5 percent in 2017 at McGuireWoods, which welcomed a pair of new leaders at the end of the year.
Gross revenue at the Richmond, Virginia-based firm climbed more than $30 million, to $715.4 million, with revenue per lawyer rising 2.5 percent to $707,000. Profits per partner increased 1.6 percent, to $1.02 million, as the size of the equity partnership remained static at 184 equity partners.
The total number of lawyers at the firm grew by little more than 2 percent, to 1,012.
The biggest personnel news of the year came in December, when McGuireWoods installed Jon Harmon as chairman and J. Tracy Walker as managing partner.
Harmon is the first minority ethnicity chairman of the firm and the latest addition to a small group of African-Americans leading Am Law 100 firms. He will likely become the sole African-American leader of a Am Law 100 firm in April, after Husch Blackwell's Maurice Watson steps down.
Walker said Harmon's minority status is “important” because diversity is highly valued by the firm, but he cited Harmon's credentials as an outstanding leader and attorney above all.
Asked about the reasoning for the new leadership he and Harmon were bringing to McGuireWoods, Walker said, “It was just time for a change.”
“We don't have contested elections, at least we haven't to date,” Walker said of the consensus-building process that led to his and Harmon's selection.
Walker is taking over for Tom Cabaniss, who served as managing partner for 11 years, and Harmon is replacing Richard Cullen, who took charge of the firm in 2006.
Cullen is representing Vice President Mike Pence in relation to the ongoing probes of Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign's connections with Russian officials. Walker said Cullen's representation of Pence did not play a role in the firm's leadership changes.
Walker and Harmon are in the process of developing a new three-year strategic plan, and Walker would not give any hints about how the firm expects to maneuver in the coming years.
Walker said the firm's financial growth in the past year was triggered, in part, by its addition of new client Olympus, which manufactures gastrointestinal endoscopy products. He added that the firm's transactional side had “a really great year” and pointed to its representation of Dominion Energy in its 2018 combination with SCANA, a merger valued at $14.6 billion.
McGuireWoods also touted the addition of three real estate finance partners in New York, four debt finance partners in San Francisco, and the addition of a fintech partner and data privacy and security partner in Charlotte, North Carolina. Walker said he had no specific details to offer about whether the firm would open new offices in the coming year—as it did in San Francisco in 2016—but that could change in six months or a year.
Walker was also mum on the firm's upcoming hiring efforts. When asked whether the firm would look to bring back former FBI director James Comey, he said he was not aware of any attempt to do so, but called Comey a “great guy and a good friend of our firm.” Cullen, the former McGuireWoods chairman, recruited Comey to McGuireWoods in 1993 and is reportedly the godfather of one of Comey's daughters.
Comey traded jabs with President Donald Trump on Twitter over the weekend and is preparing to release a book next month in the aftermath of Trump's decision to fire him as head of the FBI.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misattributed some statements to Jon Harmon that were made by J. Tracy Walker. We regret the error.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All
Legal Departments Dinged for Acquiescing to Rate Hikes That 'Defy Gravity'
4 minute read
Zuckerman Spaeder Gets Ready to Move Offices in DC, Deploy AI Tools in 2025
5 minute read
Trending Stories
- 1Decision of the Day: Judge Dismisses Defamation Suit by New York Philharmonic Oboist Accused of Sexual Misconduct
- 2California Court Denies Apple's Motion to Strike Allegations in Gender Bias Class Action
- 3US DOJ Threatens to Prosecute Local Officials Who Don't Aid Immigration Enforcement
- 4Kirkland Is Entering a New Market. Will Its Rates Get a Warm Welcome?
- 5African Law Firm Investigated Over ‘AI-Generated’ Case References
Who Got The Work
J. Brugh Lower of Gibbons has entered an appearance for industrial equipment supplier Devco Corporation in a pending trademark infringement lawsuit. The suit, accusing the defendant of selling knock-off Graco products, was filed Dec. 18 in New Jersey District Court by Rivkin Radler on behalf of Graco Inc. and Graco Minnesota. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi, is 3:24-cv-11294, Graco Inc. et al v. Devco Corporation.
Who Got The Work
Rebecca Maller-Stein and Kent A. Yalowitz of Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer have entered their appearances for Hanaco Venture Capital and its executives, Lior Prosor and David Frankel, in a pending securities lawsuit. The action, filed on Dec. 24 in New York Southern District Court by Zell, Aron & Co. on behalf of Goldeneye Advisors, accuses the defendants of negligently and fraudulently managing the plaintiff's $1 million investment. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Vernon S. Broderick, is 1:24-cv-09918, Goldeneye Advisors, LLC v. Hanaco Venture Capital, Ltd. et al.
Who Got The Work
Attorneys from A&O Shearman has stepped in as defense counsel for Toronto-Dominion Bank and other defendants in a pending securities class action. The suit, filed Dec. 11 in New York Southern District Court by Bleichmar Fonti & Auld, accuses the defendants of concealing the bank's 'pervasive' deficiencies in regards to its compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act and the quality of its anti-money laundering controls. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian, is 1:24-cv-09445, Gonzalez v. The Toronto-Dominion Bank et al.
Who Got The Work
Crown Castle International, a Pennsylvania company providing shared communications infrastructure, has turned to Luke D. Wolf of Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani to fend off a pending breach-of-contract lawsuit. The court action, filed Nov. 25 in Michigan Eastern District Court by Hooper Hathaway PC on behalf of The Town Residences LLC, accuses Crown Castle of failing to transfer approximately $30,000 in utility payments from T-Mobile in breach of a roof-top lease and assignment agreement. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Susan K. Declercq, is 2:24-cv-13131, The Town Residences LLC v. T-Mobile US, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Wilfred P. Coronato and Daniel M. Schwartz of McCarter & English have stepped in as defense counsel to Electrolux Home Products Inc. in a pending product liability lawsuit. The court action, filed Nov. 26 in New York Eastern District Court by Poulos Lopiccolo PC and Nagel Rice LLP on behalf of David Stern, alleges that the defendant's refrigerators’ drawers and shelving repeatedly break and fall apart within months after purchase. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Joan M. Azrack, is 2:24-cv-08204, Stern v. Electrolux Home Products, Inc.
