Who's really making money?

Texas Lawyer’s Annual Report on Firm Finance has been out for three weeks, and insiders have been scrutinizing the numbers and the rankings, trying to figure out how their firm really stacked up in 2007. Some say profits per partner is the real measure of financial success, while others look at revenue per lawyer. But we suggest the profitability index, calculated by dividing PPP by RPL. It shows whether equity partners are taking home more or less than the average revenue brought into the firm. Houston firm Baker Botts had the highest profitability index at 1.59 among the 25 highest-grossing firms in Texas in 2007, while Clark, Thomas & Winters had the lowest at .77. Using the index as the measure, 19 of the Texas firms were profitable in 2007, and six weren’t. You be the judge.
-- Brenda Sapino Jeffreys

The Profitability Index

Rank    Firm    2007    2006

1    Baker Botts    1.59    1.47

2    Susman Godfrey    1.43    1.73

3 (tie)    Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld    1.41    1.54

3 (tie)    Thompson & Knight    1.41    1.41

5    Beirne, Maynard & Parsons    1.40    1.44

6    Vinson & Elkins    1.39    1.40

7    Godwin Pappas Ronquillo    1.32    .85
   
8    Haynes and Boone    1.27    1.18

9    Kelly Hart & Hallman    1.25    1.36

10    Locke Liddell & Sapp*    1.24    1.20

11    Andrews Kurth    1.23    1.10

12 (tie)    Porter & Hedges    1.22    1.04

12 (tie)    Munsch, Hardt, Kopf & Harr    1.22    1.10

14 (tie)    Chamberlain, Hrdlicka, White, Williams & Martin    1.18    1.09

14(tie)    Jackson Walker    1.18    1.13

16 (tie)    Bracewell & Giuliani    1.17    1.14

16 (tie)    Gardere Wynne Sewell    1.17    1.19

18    Fulbright & Jaworski    1.12    1.16

19    Hughes & Luce**    1.11    1.09

20    Winstead    .99    1.00

21    Cox Smith Matthews    .95    .95

22    Strasburger & Price    .94    .85

23    Carrington, Coleman, Sloman & Blumenthal    .89    .89

24    Brown McCarroll    .79    .90

25    Clark, Thomas & Winters    .77    .74

*The numbers are fiscal full-year for Locke Liddell & Sapp, which merged with Chicago’s Lord Bissell & Brook in October 2007 and now is named Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell.

** The numbers are for the full fiscal year for Hughes & Luce, which combined with New York’s Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis on Jan. 1, 2008.