http://www.legalweek.com/Articles/1017935/MA+boom+drives+Wall+St+elite+to+3m+partner+profits.html

Average partner profits of $3m (£1.5m) have become the benchmark for top US firms, Legal Week can reveal, after a record year for M&A helped a handful of New York firms maintain their lead in the profession’s global profits race.

Manhattan M&A powerhouse Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz is top of the list with 2006 profits per equity partner (PEP) just below $4m (£2m), while Cravath Swaine & Moore’s PEP rose 13% to hit $3m (£1.5m).

Sullivan & Cromwell achieved a PEP figure of $2.8m (£1.4m), level with Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft. Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, America’s largest law firm, broke the $2m (£1m) PEP barrier after a 16% rise.

The results, the first snapshot of the top US firms’ 2006 financial performance, mean at least four New York firms have average partner profits approaching or in excess of $3m, maintaining their lead over London rivals.

Currently only Slaughter and May and Linklaters have PEP higher than $2m (£1m), though many UK firms are currently predicting substantial profits growth when they finalise their 2006-07 results.

Another New York firm to post above-trend results is Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson, which unveiled partner profits of $1.53m (£787,000), a 23% rise on 2005, and revenues of $470.5m (£242m).

US partners point to a record year for M&A in America as the main driver for growth, with a clutch of big-ticket private equity deals dominating the market.

However, while top-tier M&A firms were able to cash in on a limited number of private equity club deals, deal volume was only marginally up on 2005, which meant many firms outside the top bracket were unable to keep pace. A dip in litigation work is also widely regarded to have hit the bottom line of a number of US firms.

Debevoise & Plimpton co-chair of litigation John Kiernan commented: “While there are pockets of intense activity, some firms have had to adjust to the winding down of the Enron and Spitzer-related work.”

Many Manhattan-based firms were also hit by associate salary rises, which one firm estimates lowered its PEP by 5%.

Despite these trends, UK firms’ New York practices have also enjoyed a year of growth.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s US operation is expected to record a revenue increase of around 50%, with a revenue

per lawyer figure comparable to top-tier Manhattan firms, while Clifford Chance will see a 20% jump in turnover following a year that has seen the firm secure a number of substantial US M&A mandates.

Linklaters managing partner Tony Angel commented: “In 2006, world markets were strong, so it is not a surprise the US firms have posted robust results.”

He added: “We are rapidly approaching a situation where our competitors are the other leading global firms — it has become largely irrelevant where they are headquartered. But after substantial investment over the last few years in their global networks, the four internationally-minded magic circle firms are performing very well.”

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(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=599706&forum_id=2#7795575)

You sad, deluded fuck. Your "life" is the epitome of the modern upper-middle class tragedy. You're a joke.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=599706&forum_id=2#7796386)

Is that your comeback? You won't make MD with that deficiency in wit. Or are you shooting for CEO now?

Fucking douche.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=599706&forum_id=2#7796422)

Get a fucking life.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=599706&forum_id=2#7796458)

At the top 50 law firms, of the 3000 or so who become associates, only 300 will eventually make partner. I am not sure how many people start out as associates at Morgan Stanley, but if it is less than 2000, then it is actually easier to make MD at Morgan Stanley (assuming you start there), then it is to make partner at a top 50 firm. Of course, only a very small percentage of HSW MBAs will start out as associates at these firms--about 15% based on stats on the wharton site.

It's possible that banks weed out a lot of people before they even get into a bulge bracket bank and law firms weed out during the first five years of practice. This actually makes sense since someone who is an associate at a ibank will be in their late 20s and has already been weeded out several times through analyst programs, MBA admissions, and ibanking recruiting. An associate at a top 50 firm is only weeded out once (law school admissions) since just about anyone at a top 10 law school will get a job in biglaw. Maybe it is better to compare an associate at an ibank with a mid level assoicate at a law firm, since about 1/2 of 5th year top 50 associates will make partner at a top 50 firm (since attrition is about 80% by the 5th year).

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=599706&forum_id=2#7796469)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=599706&forum_id=2#7796376)

EDIT: Oops, missed the chart.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=599706&forum_id=2#7795917)

Co-Chair of executive compen$ation and employee benefit$ make$ the $witch. He just got a rai$e for $ure.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=599706&forum_id=2#7812558)