The 2026 Am Law 100 rankings — reflecting 2025 financial performance — confirm that elite law firms didn't just survive another turbulent year. They thrived. Here's everything you need to know about who won Biglaw, and by how much.
If you've been following the legal industry for more than a few years, the headline from the 2026 Am Law 100 won't shock you — but the scale of what happened in 2025 still deserves recognition. Biglaw delivered another standout year, with aggregate gross revenue for the Am Law 100 reaching $178.95 billion, up 13.0%. Revenue per lawyer (RPL) climbed to $1.39 million (+8.7%), while profits per equity partner (PEP) hit a remarkable $3.59 million (+14.0%). These gains outpaced inflation — which ran at around 2.7% in 2025 — by a multiple of three to five.
Net income across the Am Law 100 rose even faster than revenue, up 16.3%, as firms extracted more profit from each dollar billed. Sixty-two firms cleared the $1 billion revenue threshold in 2025, up from 58 the prior year. And by year-end, the total lawyer count in Am Law 100 firms reached 128,868 attorneys — a 4% increase, though that figure masks an important structural shift at the top.
The "how" of this profitability boom is as important as the "what." Headcount grew 4% overall — roughly half the pace of 2024's 7.7% surge — but the composition of that growth is the real story. The ranks of nonequity partners increased by nearly 7%, while the number of equity partners grew by just 2%. That divergence isn't accidental. Firms are deliberately widening the leverage ratio — packing more revenue-generating lawyers below the equity tier — which concentrates profits in fewer hands at the top.
The result: PEP growth of 14% industry-wide, with 70 firms posting PEP growth of 10% or more. Only two firms in the entire Am Law 100 reported PEP declines. That's a remarkable level of sector-wide success.
"These firms are investing in their futures by onboarding more and more superstars, which creates a virtuous cycle: great lateral hires increase firm profitability, enabling firms to use their higher profitability and growing war chests to attract even more top talent." — David Lat, Original Jurisdiction (commenting on the 2026 Am Law 100)
In law firm rankings, "most profitable" is best measured by profits per equity partner (PEP) — the cleanest indicator of how much each equity owner takes home after expenses. Here are the top 10 from the 2026 Am Law 100, reflecting 2025 performance:
| # | Firm | PEP (2025) | YoY Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz | $12,152,000 | +34.48% |
| 2 | Kirkland & Ellis | $11,121,000 | +20.19% |
| 3 | Davis Polk & Wardwell | $9,800,000 | +25.60% |
| 4 | Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan | $9,545,000 | +10.44% |
| 5 | Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher | $8,890,000 | +23.90% |
| 6 | Latham & Watkins | $8,654,000 | +21.29% |
| 7 | Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison | $8,631,000 | +14.45% |
| 8 | Simpson Thacher & Bartlett | $8,569,000 | +11.81% |
| 9 | Paul Hastings | $8,330,000 | +24.05% |
| 10 | Milbank | $7,620,000 | +11.86% |
Wachtell's 34.48% PEP jump — the largest of any top-10 firm — is only partly explained by M&A volume. The real engine is its structure: a deliberately small equity partnership, a near-100% equity model, and profit margins around 78%. With just 272 lawyers, the firm also leads the Am Law 100 in revenue per lawyer at $5.085 million — nearly double its nearest competitor, Susman Godfrey at $2.876 million. When revenue ticks up even modestly at Wachtell, the per-partner payout jumps dramatically. It's not a secret formula — it's disciplined restraint applied for decades.
While PEP measures profitability per owner, gross revenue reveals overall scale. The 2026 Am Law 100 confirmed Kirkland & Ellis as the first law firm in history to cross $10 billion in annual revenue, posting $10.556 billion — up nearly 20% year-on-year. The gap between Kirkland and everyone else is substantial: Latham & Watkins at $8.3 billion is the only other firm in the eight-figure billions club, and after them there is a sharp drop to DLA Piper at $4.58 billion.
The most notable reshuffle this year: Gibson Dunn climbed one spot to No. 4, while Skadden slipped to No. 5. And Simpson Thacher jumped two spots to crack the top 10 at No. 10, riding a 22.66% revenue surge to $3.553 billion — one of the most dramatic climbs in this year's rankings.
| # | Firm | Gross Revenue | YoY Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kirkland & Ellis | $10.556B | +19.93% |
| 2 | Latham & Watkins | $8.300B | +18.57% |
| 3 | DLA Piper | $4.583B | +8.10% |
| 4 | Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher ▲1 | $4.211B | +18.37% |
| 5 | Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom ▼1 | $4.073B | +11.00% |
| 6 | Sidley Austin | $3.738B | +8.68% |
| 7 | Ropes & Gray | $3.737B | +9.39% |
| 8 | Baker McKenzie | $3.640B | +7.24% |
| 9 | White & Case | $3.594B | +8.36% |
| 10 | Simpson Thacher & Bartlett ▲2 | $3.553B | +22.66% |
As legal commentator David Lat has argued, the compensation figures that generate headlines — $8 million, $12 million, and in some cases $15 million-plus for star rainmakers like SCOTUS advocate Jeff Wall at Gibson Dunn — are not evidence of a bubble. They are evidence that elite firms have the financial wherewithal to pay for the talent they need to stay competitive. The 2026 Am Law 100 data backs that up emphatically.
The 2026 Am Law 100 also unfolded against a backdrop of real-world disruption: government executive orders targeting several major firms, macroeconomic uncertainty, and intensifying pressure from AI-driven efficiency tools. Yet remarkably, the data from The American Lawyer shows that nearly all 13 firms hit with executive orders — or who struck deals to resolve them — still posted revenue growth in 2025, in several cases significantly.
Firms are also leaning into AI investment. Technology and knowledge-management spending jumped by roughly 10% across the sector, as firms deployed generative AI for commodity work and research. The irony is that AI-driven efficiency, rather than compressing revenue, has so far amplified profitability: more output per lawyer means higher RPL and, ultimately, higher PEP.
The "rich-get-richer" dynamic is real and measurable. The gap between Wachtell's $12.15 million PEP and the Am Law 100 average of $3.59 million is enormous — but the entire elite tier moved upward together in 2025. That's not a system under strain. That's a system firing on all cylinders.
For lateral partners, the message is unmistakable: this is the market. Firms are paying because they can, and they're paying because they must. The talent competition is not cooling. For associates watching their utilization rates, the pressure to perform inside these machines is, if anything, higher. And for general counsel managing outside counsel costs, rate increases of 10% or more are now the industry norm — prompting a growing number of sophisticated clients to shift routine matters to lower-cost providers.
The fuller picture will emerge over the coming months as firm-specific data is parsed, lateral moves are announced, and 2026 begins to reveal whether this trajectory continues. For now, the 2026 Am Law 100 delivers a clear verdict: 2025 was a historic year for Biglaw profitability, and the firms at the top are pulling further ahead.