New York partners are the wealthiest in the US with Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz partners earning $4.76 million dollars each last year. Davis Polk partners also had a good year on $2.94 million whilst Fried Frank averaged $1.63 million dollars.The American Lawyer 2014 law firm research also revealed that the richest law firms are mainly located in New York, employ 18 per cent of the 92,000 lawyer work force whilst earning 26 per cent of the total legal fees. Lawyers at the top of firms such as Baker & McKenzie, Kirkland & Ellis and Latham & Watkins also enjoy large earnings with these partners making an average of around $3 million a year.

Super-rich law firms

The figures reveal a group of 20 ‘super rich’ law firms which saw a 5.05 per cent rise in profit per partner with revenue per lawyer increasing 4.1 per cent. There was less good news, however, for the top six international law firms which have adopted the Swiss verein  partnership model. These saw a drop in average profits per partner by 8.2 per cent whilst revenue per lawyer slumped by 4.7 per cent. Source: The New York Times