We work on numerous data projects over the course of the year. Many of these projects go back decades, but with increasing emphasis on the use of analytics in almost all industries (certainly including legal), we believe these projects are more important than ever. As we've observed before, numbers don't tell the whole story, but they help us better understand issues ranging from compensation to winning and losing in the courtroom. They challenge what we think we know about the state of the industry today, and where it's heading.

The Largest Law Firms listing is rich in information that goes well beyond numbers: some firms have changed names, moved offices or, in at least two cases (Budd Larner and LeClairRyan) dissolved and are not listed.

This year's list comprises 105 firms and branches with more than 20 lawyers in New Jersey. And there are a total of 5,506 New Jersey attorneys at those firms and branches, per our chart. While solos and lawyers at very small firms still make up the majority of private practitioners in the state, 5,506 is no small number. These are lawyers practicing at firms that our readers know—often by name, and in many cases by reputation. These are the firms to which we dedicate significant amounts of news coverage and analysis over the course of the year. They are institutions—important not only to the legal profession, but to the state as a whole.

We hope you'll take some time to look at the data projects presented here. More importantly, we hope NJ Law serves as a valuable reference. We're proud of the work that goes into it, and the product. We look forward to working on these and other projects in the future, and to using the data collected by Law Journal staff and ALM Legal Intelligence to help serve our readers better. Thank you for reading.

— David Gialanella, Assistant Managing Editor of Regional Brands, ALM Media

— Juliette Gillespie, Law Editor, New Jersey Law Journal

Largest Law Firms This year's list of the largest law firms and branch offices in New Jersey includes 105 offices with a total of 5,506 lawyers.

Law Journal Top Personal Injury Awards: The largest 20 awards reported by the Law Journal between Aug. 21, 2018, and Aug. 19, 2019.

NJ Top 40: 'The Numbers Do Tell the Tale': As legal industry leaders grow increasingly cognizant of the business—not only the practice—of law, more law firms and branch offices in New Jersey are growing revenue than are growing attorney head counts, the Law Journal's annual Top 40 project has found for the second straight year.

NJ Summer Associate Programs Steady in Scale, But Evolution Continues: The hiring of summer associates at New Jersey law firms and offices is steady for 2019. But steadiness doesn't mean stasis, program leaders say.

Changeover in Trenton Drives Steady Revenue for NJ Lawyer-Lobbyists in 2018: "With any new administration, there is a desire to get as much done as possible early on," David Pascrell said.

Public Finance Lawyers 'Keeping the Lights On' Amid Changed Government Bond Market: New Jersey's government bond market in the first half of 2019 has seen a rebound in activity compared with the first half of last year, but public finance lawyers' expectations of the market's baseline have changed.