Today, Law.com International released the latest ranking of the top 200 law firms in the world, namely The 2022 Global 200. Driven by great market demand and high-yield transactions, the 200 largest law firms around the globe hit a new high in revenue and profit with a total revenue exceeding USD 185.6 billion (about RMB1,306.8 billion) in the previous fiscal year.
The total business revenue of the top 100 law firms in the world increased by 15.3% over the previous fiscal year, reaching USD 127.5 billion, of which the average profit of equity partners up by nearly 17% to more than USD 1.9 million.
It is worth mentioning that in this ranking, 7 law firms from China were among the top 100, and 11 law firms among the top 200.
In 2022, the ranking of the top 200 global law firms was announced, and seven domestic-funded firms were included in top 100.
The total business revenue of the world’s top 200 law firms increased by 14.7% in fiscal year 2021 (the data of some firms covering the first few months of 2022). Despite the majority of positions of American law firms among the Global 200, the ranking of the firms in China, Australia and Europe rose rapidly.
The financial performance of the top 100 is superior to those from 101 to 200, with the increment growing by 15.3% and 12.6% respectively. The average RPL in the top 200 grew by 8.4%.
Of the top 10, eight hold the largest number of lawyers in the United States, one holds the largest number in China (Dentons) and one in the United Kingdom (Clifford Chance).
Kirkland and Latham are the only two with annual revenues exceeding USD 5 billion, of which Kirkland’s revenue exceeded USD6 billion.
Compared with last year, the top three remained unchanged, while Ropes & Gray improved by four places and entered the Top 10 of the world for the first time.
Among the top 10 law firms, Dentons has the largest number of lawyers, totaling more than 12,000, which, on the contrary, lower its revenue per lawyer (RPL) at USD 244,000.
Kirkland registered the highest RPL, followed by Ropes & Gray, both of which were close to USD 2 million.
The 2022 Global 200: Chinese law firms
By “nationality”, a total of 11 Chinese law firms entered the Global 200 this year, and 7 of them were among the top 100.
Dentons topped the list with a total revenue of nearly USD 3 billion, and the other two Chinese law firms with annual revenue exceeding USD 1 billion (RMB 7.04 billion) are King & Wood Mallesons and Yingke Law Firm.
Except Dentons, all the Chinese law firms on the list ranked higher over 2021, among which Grandall Law Firm (+28) saw the biggest rise, from the 121st place last year to the 93rd place this year. AllBright Law Offices, Jingsh Law Firm and JunHe Law Firm also rose by 20 places. In addition, Tahota Law Firm was the first time to enter the Global 200 at the 192nd place.
Compared with 2021, two more Chinese law firms were listed among top 100 namely DeHeng Law Offices and Grandall Law Firm; the number of Chinese law firms in the top 200 remained the same as in 2021, 11 in total.
In terms of the number of lawyers, following Dentons and Yingke, the two with 10,000-plus lawyers, Jingsh has over 5,000 lawyers, while DeHeng and Grandall holds over 4,000 lawyers.
JunHe Law Firm has the least number of lawyers (only 648), but the highest RPL among the 11 law firms, reaching USD 560,000 (about RMB 3.945 million), showing a significant increase compared with last year at USD 452,000. King & Wood Mallesons ranked second with US USD10,000, while Fangda Partners ranked the third, with RPL of USD395,000 (about RMB 2.782 million).
Profits per equity partner
In addition to revenue, Law.com International also counted the profits per equity partner (PEP) for the top 100 law firms in the world.
The number of equity partners of the top 100 law firms in the world increased by 2.2% in fiscal year 2021, with PEP up by 16.8%.
It can be seen that the top 10 law firms are basically earning the highest PEP in Am Law 100, of which Cahill Gordon & Reindel, ranking 10th in Am Law, was replaced by Weil and Gotshal & Manges.
All the top 26 on the list are American law firms, and the 27th place was taken by Slaughter and May, a non-American law firm.
Among the seven Chinese law firms in the top 100, AllBright Law Offices recorded the highest PEP at USD 777,000 (about USD 5.424 million), followed by Zhong Lun Law Firm, with PEP of USD 614,000 (about RMB 4.325 million) and King & Wood Mallesons with PEP of USD 511,000 (about RMB 3.6 million).
Global 200 Ranking
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