Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld's offices at 2001 K St., NW, in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM)

In a decade that included post-Great Recession recovery and significant expansion internationally, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld is pointing to 10 straight years of revenue gains as a major win.

Gross revenue increased by 5.9% to $1.14 billion at Akin Gump in 2019, and profits per equity partner and revenue per lawyer also improved when compared with 2018 results.

"We look at it as not just a good year, but a good decade," said Kim Koopersmith, chairwoman of the Texas-founded Am Law 100 firm. During that time, the firm added offices in Dubai, Frankfurt, Hong Kong and Singapore, and head count increased by 16.1%.

Akin Gump is not the only firm to have experienced such a fruitful decade. Cooley, for instance, in announcing earlier this week that it grew revenue by more than 8% in 2019, also touted 10 straight years of growth.

Akin Gump's 2019 revenue of $1.14 billion compares with $1.07 billion in 2018. Net income was $464 million, up 4.3% from $445.3 the year before.

RPL, at $1.25 million, was up 3% from $1.21 million in 2018, even as the firm's lawyer head count increased by 2.8% to 910 on a full-time equivalent basis.

PEP came in at $2.6 million, up 8.2% when compared with $2.4 million in 2018, as the number of equity partners declined by 3.2% to 179.

Koopersmith said the increase in RPL demonstrates that the firm is growing revenue in sync with its head count. And, she noted, experiencing growth in PEP is a "great place to be."

She attributed the firm's success in the lateral hiring market—it brought on 23 lateral partners last year—to its solid position in the market. The hires included nine each in London and Washington, D.C., which are two of the firm's three largest offices. The other is New York.

"We grew where it made sense to grow," Koopersmith said.

Demand was strong across practices, she said, including litigation, financial restructuring and corporate work. The energy practice runs throughout the firm, and creates connections between offices, for instance, Houston and London, she added.

Additionally, she said, the policy and regulatory practices are "at the very top of the market," and the federal trade practice was busy, considering the activity related to tariffs, sanctions and export controls.

Lobbying is another strong practice in the firm's Washington, D.C., office, she said. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Akin Gump was the nation's leading lobbying firm, billing a total of $42.7 million in 2019.

Additionally, the white-collar criminal defense and congressional investigations practices were engaged in 2019, and she expects that work to continue this year.

Looking across the pond, the London office had a "banner year," Koopersmith said, with revenue in that office coming in at $125.1 million, up from a strong 2018 and up nearly $29 million from 2017. She said lawyers in London worked on some major transactions, including representing Helios Investment Partners in a $1.45 billion initial public offering for Helios Towers, advising on notes for a restructuring of debt owed by German industrial company Galapagos Heat Exchangers.

As for succession planning, a hot topic throughout the industry, Koopersmith is in her third three-year term. She said the firm is intentional about developing younger lawyers for leadership roles, and recently appointed John Goodgame as partner in charge in Houston, and Trey Muldrow in the same role in New York.

The focus, she said, is training younger lawyers to be leaders, rotating committee memberships, and working to ensure that all partners will grow into important roles for clients. She noted that more than half of the 15 newly promoted partners in 2020 are women.

After a decade of growing revenue—this year's $1.14 billion is 54.2% higher than $736 million in 2010—Koopersmith said the firm is well-positioned for 2020, as it celebrates its 75th anniversary.

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