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Accounting and Financial Planning for Law FirmsFeaturesLaw Firm FinancialsLaw Firm Management

After Another Big Year, Law Firms Should Plan for Recession

By J. Mark Santiago
June 01, 2022

Looking at the 2021 AmLaw 200 results, overall, the AmLaw 200 did very well last year. Among other benchmarks, the AmLaw 200:

  • Posted the biggest YOY increases in revenue, RPL, and PEP in more than 10 years.
  • Gross revenue increases more than 9%.
  • RPL increased more than 7%.
  • PEP increased by approximately 12%.

While the AmLaw 200 results were quite impressive, 2021 continued the cycle of the AmLaw 100 firms continuing to widen the gap between themselves and the "other" 100.

  • Gross revenue in the AmLaw 100 increased by approximately 15%.
  • RPL in the AmLaw 100 increased by 12.5%.
  • PEP increased by 20%.

Perhaps the most startling measure of the gap was that two AmLaw 100 firms increased their YOY gross revenue by more than the combined increase of all the AmLaw 200 firms.

2022 and Beyond

What might 2022 and 2023 hold? Preliminary Q1 results from the Thompson Reuters LFFI survey reports a strong 2.7% growth in demand. However, the positive growth numbers were offset by significant growth in compensation (13%) and overhead (10%). Indicators point to continued growth in both of those categories over this year and calendar 2023.

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