New York skyline. (Photo: Shutterstock)

Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler co-chair and managing partner Lisa Cleary said the firm's investments in its C-suite and new professional and business development initiatives are paying off, helping drive double-digit revenue growth and the firm's best-ever financial year.

The firm saw gross revenue grow 10.4% in 2019 to $215.1 million, up from $194.9 million in 2019. Revenue per lawyer was up 10.9%, to nearly $1.2 million in 2019, and profits per equity partner rose 8.8% to $1.8 million.

Cleary said the firm thrived on litigation work in 2019—the firm went to trial eight times and has 17 more trials scheduled for this year.

Among its litigation highlights, Patterson Belknap lawyers defended Johnson & Johnson against asbestos-related mesothelioma claims tied to talcum powder, defended Sony against a patent infringement claim and represented Abbott Laboratories in an anti-counterfeiting case. It also represented an Insys board member in litigation tied to the opioid crisis. The firm was one of the largest unsecured creditors in the pharmaceutical company's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing last year.

Cleary also attributed the firm's success to a strategic plan that has shifted its focus further toward developing its business operations side.

"At the end of 2018, we made a conscious decision to strengthen how the firm operates as a business," Cleary said, noting the firm moved away from a board of directors governance model to hiring C-suite executives. The firm in September 2019 hired chief operating officer Sally King, who was former COO of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld and a business leader at Dentons, Clifford Chance and Cooley.

Lisa Cleary, Patterson Belknap. (Courtesy photo)

Additionally, Patterson Belknap hired a chief of business development, a chief of finance, and a chief of people, diversity and professional development.

"We wanted to devote more resources on a full-time basis to these important areas of helping lawyers develop to their maximum potential," Cleary said.

Patterson Belknap ended 2019 with 181 attorneys, one fewer than the previous year. It grew its equity tier by one partner last year, bringing the total to 47.

For 2020 Cleary said the firm would continue to invest in growth on its business and professional development side, by strengthening staffing under the chief financial officer, looking at pricing and alternative fee arrangements and being more strategic about budgeting, and staffing client matters.

Cleary said the firm has already started to prioritize cross-selling opportunities, which will continue to be a focus for the coming year. While Patterson Belknap's exempt organization practice group was another high performer in 2019, Cleary said she still sees it as an area of growth in the coming year, while the white-collar practice remains an area of opportunity for the firm.

Patterson Belknap is open to "measured but thoughtful" head count growth in the coming year, Cleary said, but any hires in 2020 would be vetted for a culture fit. The firm is a one-office shop, with offices on Sixth Avenue in Midtown, and has no plans to change.

"We're a single-office law firm, and we want to keep it that way," she said. "We know everyone who walks our halls by first and last name. That's a very special aspect of the firm."

The firm also plans to invest more in programs to keep its attorneys happy, healthy and high-performing. It kicked off 2020 by announcing an amended parental leave policy in which each attorney, without regard to primary caregiver, receives 22 weeks of paid leave. Cleary said that two male associates have already taken extended time off.

"This was a significant financial decision on the firm's part, but the management committee concluded it was critical to our efforts to attract and retain the best and brightest," she said.

Note: This story has been updated to reflect that the firm does not categorize any partners as non-equity partners. 

The 2019 financial figures reported in this story are preliminary. ALM will report finalized data for the Am Law 200 in The American Lawyer's May and June issues.

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