(312) 781-9000
16 Sep

An Overview of Crain’s 2016 List: Chicago’s Largest Law Firms

by: Astor Professional Search

Crain’s reported their annual list of Chicago’s largest law firms. The report, consisting of the top 25 firms in the city ranked by attorney headcount, is accurate as of June 30, 2016. The list includes the firms’ revenues, number of attorneys worldwide within each firm, and a breakdown of the number of attorneys in each practice. Two new firms joined the top 25 this year and two surpass the rest in terms of attorney headcount and revenue growth.

Chicago skyline panorama aerial view with skyscrapers over Lake Michigan with cloudy sky at dusk.

For over a decade, Kirkland & Ellis has remained number one with 574 local attorneys and firm wide revenue growth of 7.2 percent. Sidley Austin and Mayer Brown also managed to hold their respective positions on the list, coming in at number two and three. Jenner & Block had the highest percentage change on the top 25 this year, a 14 percent increase in both number of attorneys and revenue growth. Jenner, coming in at No. 4, now has 307 local attorneys. Winston & Strawn LLP ranked as the fifth largest firm, despite a 1.4 percent decrease in number of attorneys from last year. New to the list this year were Swanson Martin & Bell and SmithAmundsen in spots 22 and 23.

Similar to last year, almost half of the firms on the list experienced a decrease in the number of local attorneys. Schiff Hardin faced the biggest loss, an 18.8 percent drop from last year. Another was Locke Lord, which concurrently had the largest increase in revenue, a 40 percent rise to $597.2 million.

See the full article and rankings on Crain’s Chicago Business.

Contact Bill Sugarman for more information.

author-bio-image author-bio-image
William Sugarman

William Sugarman is the president and founder of Astor Professional Search. He engages in the successful placement of attorneys with local, regional, and international law firms and corporations. Bill’s extensive legal and business development experience give Astor an edge over other legal recruiters nationwide. At the cornerstone of Bill’s strategic philosophy is providing the highest level of personalized attention to his clients and attorney candidates. This is also a key factor that separates Astor from other legal search firms, and it consistently delivers legal placements year after year.

Years of Experience: More than 20 years

Share it here
Related Posts
24 Jun Highlights from the 2016 Am Law 200
Highlights from the 2016 Am Law 200

In conjunction with the Am Law 100 results, the American Lawyer released their annual Am Law Second Hundred report, which includes d...

08 Jan How Mid-Market Firms Are Profiting from ‘Big Law’ Firms’ Stagnated Strategies
How Mid-Market Firms Are Profiting from ‘...

Big law firms have always been pathologically conservative in updating their policies, but has this mentality begun to affect their ...

21 Nov Law Firm Demand, Revenue Continued to Grow in Third Quarter, Report Finds
Law Firm Demand, Revenue Continued to Grow in T...

The American Lawyer reports that law firm revenue growth in the first nine months of 2018 was the highest it’s been since 2007,...