Top 100 Law Firms in Pennsylvania
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Firm Financials 2011 (continued from page 101) BLANK ROME Blank Rome's gross revenue fell by just half of 1 percent in 2011 to $309.5 million. The firm's RPL grew 1.6 percent from $645,000 to $655,000 and its PPP decreased 5.8 percent from $690,000 to $650,000. Blank Rome's average compensation for all partners dropped 8.4 percent from $535,000 in 2010 to $490,000 in 2011. Blank Rome's overall headcount and equity partner tier each dipped. Headcount fell nearly 2 percent from 481 lawyers to 472 last year. The equity tier dropped by 10 partners to 139 equity partners, which constituted a 6.7 per- cent dip. Nonequity partner ranks increased 10 percent to 121 attorneys. The firm's profit mar- gin fell four percentage points to 29 percent. Blank Rome Chairman Alan J. Hoffman had said the firm's numbers for 2011 really came down to a timing issue. He said the firm had record years in 2009 and 2010, but 2011 started off slowly. Demand began picking up in the last quarter of the year. The revenue for that increased work, however, wasn't col- lected until 2012, he said. According to Hoffman, Blank Rome's reve- nue for the first quarter of 2012 was up 20.7 percent over the same time period in 2011. He said the firm's hours were up 7.7 percent for that time frame. COZEN O'CONNOR Cozen O'Connor had a strong financial show- ing in 2011, bringing in historic highs for the firm when it came to gross revenue, RPL and PPP, according to preliminary numbers from the firm. Gross revenue jumped 6 percent from $277.5 million in 2010 to $294 million in 2011. Last year's revenue was higher than in 2009, when the firm's revenue soared 22 percent to nearly $291 million thanks to a contingency fee. Cozen O'Connor equity partners made 8.3 percent more on average, with PPP increasing from $605,000 in 2010 to $655,000 in 2011. The firm's RPL grew 6.4 percent from $550,000 to $585,000. Average compensa- tion for all partners rose 14.6 percent from $445,000 to $510,000. The firm saw its profit margin jump three percentage points to 33 percent as its net income spiked 15.7 percent to $96 million. The firm was able to increase revenue and profits while keeping headcount and billable 102 | PaLaw 2012 RPL PPP RPL PPP RPL PPP 0 $605,000 $530,000 $525,000 $615,000 $430,000 $555,000 0.25 0.5 Gross Revenue: $285M Equity Partners: 227 Total Attorneys: 473 Gross Revenue: $273.6M Equity Partners: 221 Total Attorneys: 446 Gross Revenue: $271M Equity Partners: 202 Total Attorneys: 488 0.75 1 1.25 1.5 (RPL and PPP in Millions) 1.75 2 2.25 2.5 hours relatively static and increasing equity partners. CEO Thomas A. "Tad" Decker said rates were increased "a little bit" but are still very competitive. He said there was no large- scale contingency fee that would have affected 2011's numbers as there has been in the past. The firm also didn't spend the entire contingency fee from 2009, putting it toward expenses last year. He said the growth is con- sistent with the firm's 6 to 10 percent revenue increases in years without contingency fees. That is attributable, he said, to the mix of prac- tices at Cozen O'Connor. Cozen O'Connor's headcount went almost unchanged at 503 attorneys despite bringing on a group of 19 intellectual property attorneys in New York in June and 14 lawyers in Houston in May. Decker said those attorneys did not count as full-time lawyers for the full year under The American Lawyer's full-time equiva- lent calculation. He said the firm's headcount is up "a bit" from that 503 number now. The equity partner tier increased by 5.8 percent to 146 equity partners while the non- equity partner tier plummeted 16.7 percent from 120 to 100 nonequity lawyers. The pay for nonequity attorneys decreased by just 4.8 percent from $31 million to $29.5 million. BALLARD SPAHR Ballard Spahr was able to grow its gross reve- nue in 2011 above the firm's all-time high in 2010, but could not match the rate of increase in its headcount thanks to a downturn in its public finance practice and a general overca- pacity in certain areas, the firm's chairman said. Ballard Spahr grew gross revenue 4.2 per- cent from $273.5 million in 2010 to $285 mil- lion in 2011. The firm's headcount, however, RPL PPP RPL PPP RPL PPP 0 0.25 $585,000 $655,000 $550,000 $605,000 $575,000 $650,000 0.5 Gross Revenue: $294M Equity Partners: 146 Total Attorneys: 503 Gross Revenue: $277.5M Equity Partners: 138 Total Attorneys: 504 Gross Revenue: $290.7M Equity Partners: 145 Total Attorneys: 505 0.75 1 1.25 1.5 (RPL and PPP in Millions) 1.75 2 2.25 2.5 2009 BALLARD SPAHR 2010 2011 2009 COZEN O'CONNOR 2010 2011