As it continued to shed lawyers for the fifth year in a row, Locke Lord saw gross revenue slip by 3.1% in 2019, while revenue per lawyer increased slightly.

Chair David Taylor said the small decrease in revenue is largely due to shrinkage in the total lawyer count—including the loss of a number of lawyers in the firm's Hong Kong office—and the fact that a contingency fee factored into 2018 financial results.

Taylor, who just completed his second year as chair of the Dallas-based firm, said he is focused on improving revenue per lawyer, which came in at $812,000 in 2019 and is up 1.5% from $800,000 in 2018. He called that increase a "good sign of healthy growth."