What is the biggest law firm in the world?

Nov 12, 2022

Written By Zara Arif

There are many different types of law firms which range in size and specialise in a plethora of areas of law. They can also employ up to thousands of lawyers in offices which are situated regionally, nationally and internationally. But, what is the biggest law firm of them all?

What is a law firm?

Firstly, it is important to define what a law firm actually is.

A law firm is essentially a group or partnership of lawyers who work together and are driven by business goals as well as their client’s interests. The group of lawyers in question can advise their clients on a range of matters depending on which area of law they specialise in. Lawyers can help clients to draft legal documents, negotiate deals and help them to get representation at court if necessary.

How do you determine the size of a law firm?

Law firms can employ a range of different people, from hundreds to thousands of lawyers across the globe as well as paralegals and Human Resources and Business Development professionals. This is one way in which the size of a law firm can be determined.

However, more commonly, the size of a law firm is determined by how much money it makes. Law firms make money through a system called ‘billable hours’. This means that a law firm charges their clients per hour of work that one of their lawyers does on a client matter.

These units of time are recorded in six minute increments and are recorded by lawyers who work for clients. These lawyers are known as ‘fee-earners’. iIn order for a law firm to make profit, they need to make more money through ‘billable hours’ than they spend on their own costs.

So, what is the biggest law firm?

There are many ways to measure the size of a law firm. The first way, as mentioned above, is revenue.

The biggest law firm in the world by revenue, is without a doubt, US-based firm Kirkland & Ellis which has its headquarters in Chicago, Illinois. In fact, it was the first firm to ever make a revenue of US$4 billion. The firm specialises in commercial litigation and has an expert practice in private equity and M&A (Mergers and Acquisitions).

Kirkland & Ellis operates in 18 cities globally and employs 3,025 lawyers, according to numbers produced by the National Law Journal in 2022. This means that in terms of numbers, it is not the biggest law firm in the world.

Statista, an online data collection website, suggests that the biggest law firm in terms of numbers is Dentons, with 11,337 lawyers employed in 2021. Dentons is a firm which is renowned for its international presence, with offices in over 75 countries.

In this way, there is not one firm that is the biggest of them all. Each firm differs by revenue and number of lawyers employed just as they differ by clients and specialisation.

How do law firms get so big?

Now that we know what some of the biggest law firms are and how they make money and employ so many people, you might be wondering how they get to such a size?

Well, the answer to that question is also far from simple.

Some law firms have been in operation for hundreds of years. Thus, they have built up enough expertise in certain areas to attract the biggest clients, such as corporations and banks who require their assistance in multi-billion deals. Law firms operate as businesses so they market and network in order to attract the biggest clients.

Another way in which they grow is through merging with other firms in order to combine practice areas and therefore the clients they can work with. One example of this would be the merger between Coward Chance and Clifford-Turner in 1987 which led to the creation of the Magic Circle firm Clifford Chance.

There is also another structure of law firm which allows for rapid international expansion and this is the ‘Swiss Verein’ structure. This means that a law firm has offices in lots of different countries that all have a different profit pool and work on distinct matters but still operate under one brand. An example of this would be Hogan Lovells.

So, there is no doubt that law firms are operating as businesses and seek to expand and grow on a daily basis. With Kirkland & Ellis alone reaching revenues of US$4 billion dollars alone, the future of the legal industry is incredibly exciting and definitely open to incessant progress and innovation.

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