Firm Profiles
IN-DEPTH RESEARCH REPORT
on Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P.
- - Financial Information
- - Compensation
- - Billing Rates
- - Lateral Partner Moves
- - Pro bono
- - Key Contacts
Fulbright & Jaworski
- Designation: Houston
- Head Count: 790
- Gross Revenues: $585,500,000
- Revenue Per Lawyer: $740,000
- Profits Per Partner: $780,000
- Year Over Year Change: 6
As you might expect from a firm founded a century ago in Houston, Fulbright & Jaworski’s energy practice is one of its core strengths. So, too, is health care law. No surprise there, given the firm’s lengthy association with the city’s sprawling Texas Medical Center. But Fulbright is also home to a top–notch litigation group, which earned an honorable mention in The American Lawyer’s Litigation Department of the Year contest in both 2008 and 2010.
While Fulbright’s history in Texas runs deep, its reach extended beyond the state’s borders almost from the beginning. Just eight years after its 1919 founding, the firm opened a Washington, D.C., office, giving it ready access to the agencies overseeing trade and commerce. Expansion continued throughout the years, with the firm now counting 17 offices worldwide, both in long established markets like London and Hong Kong and emerging regions like Dubai and Riyadh. The Middle East has become a big focus for the firm in recent years, and it has leveraged its energy and international transactional experience to become one of the region’s key players in Islamic finance and project finance work.
While Fulbright’s revenues put it within the top 50 firms, by other metrics it routinely falls outside the top 100. It ranked 101st in profit per partner for 2010, and 125th on the Am Law Profitability Index that year.
While many other firms fared worse during the economic crisis, Fulbright did not emerge unscathed. Revenue in 2010 was down nearly 3 percent from the prior year, and the firm’s attorney head count of 843 marked a sizable decline from a peak of 936 in 2007.
Fulbright scored middle–of–the–road numbers for diversity in 2011, coming in eightieth of 194 firms on The American Lawyer’s annual survey (just under 14 percent of U.S. attorneys, and 7 percent of U.S. partners, are minorities).
On the pro bono front, the firm actively encourages participation by factoring in hours when calculating associate bonuses. Given Fulbright’s ranking in the top 20 percent of firms on The American Lawyer’s 2011 Pro Bono report—lawyers performed, on average, 88 hours per year of nonpaying work—the tactic seems to be working.
—Updated as of 1/1/12
Firm Rankings
| Survey | Rank | Year Over Year Change | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Am Law 100 | 54 | 6 | Gross revenue |
| Am Law 200 | 54 | 6 | Gross revenue |
| NLJ 250 | 37 | 4 | Lawyer head count |
| The A-List | NR | N/A | Overall excellence |
| Pro Bono Scorecard | 38 | 17 | Pro-bono commitment |
| Diversity Scorecard | 88 | 8 | Minority head count |
| Midlevel Associates Survey | NR | N/A | Job satisfaction |
| Summer Associates Survey | NR | N/A | Summer programs |
In the News
Proving the Amount of Breach of Contract Damages
Glen Banks : New York Law Journal : May 24, 2013
In his Contract Law column, Glen Banks, a partner at Fulbright & Jaworski, writes that New York law does not provide a clear guideline as to what constitutes sufficient proof of the amount of damages that can support an award of compensatory damages.
Personal Notes on Lawyers
: New York Law Journal : May 17, 2013
Barbara Hoey has rejoined Kelley Drye & Warren, where she had been for 20 years before moving to Littler Mendelson in 2010. Sullivan & Worcester, Fulbright & Jaworski, Morrison & Foerster and Phillips Nizer also announce new hires.
Pa. Natural Gas Industry Fuels a Surge in Legal Work
Zack Needles : The Legal Intelligencer : May 16, 2013
While it hasn't always been the case, attorneys and legal recruiters generally agree that, at the moment, the natural gas industry in Pennsylvania is creating a steady demand for oil and gas lawyers. The demand has shifted from attorneys being hired to do pure title work to include those with experience in oil and gas transactional work, says one recruiter.
Las Vegas Jury Awards Hong Kong Businessman $70 Million in Sands Suit
Jessica Seah : The Asian Lawyer : May 15, 2013
In a suit first filed nine years ago, Richard Suen claimed he helped U.S. casino mogul Sheldon Adelson win permission to operate in Macau.
The Churn: Lateral Moves in The Am Law 200
Diane Jeantet : The Am Law Daily : May 14, 2013
Dickstein Shapiro loses a partner to Jones Day in Washington, D.C.; Bryan Cave poaches five attorneys from Sutherland Asbill & Brennan; and a former Dewey & LeBoeuf partner, most recently with Linklaters, joins KPMG. The Churn is constant. Please send all announcements to thechurn@alm.com.
Is the Natural Gas Industry in Pa. Creating More Legal Work?
Zack Needles : The Legal Intelligencer : May 14, 2013
While there is currently debate over whether the rise of the natural gas industry in Pennsylvania has created as many jobs as some had originally projected, there is little disagreement among attorneys and legal recruiters that there is, at the moment, plenty of legal work flowing from the drilling industry and, as a consequence, steady demand for oil and gas lawyers.
Corporate Scorecard
: Texas Lawyer : May 13, 2013
Texas' Top Deals of 2012
Brenda Sapino Jeffreys : Texas Lawyer : May 13, 2013
The top 10 deals in Texas in 2012.
Sheppard Mullin Eyed for New Orleans Cop Monitor Role
Drew Combs : The Am Law Daily : May 13, 2013
As one of two finalists bidding to oversee a sweeping effort to reform the scandal-scarred New Orleans Police Department under a 2012 federal consent decree, Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton has a lot going for it—including the support of the U.S. Justice Department.
Law Firms and Laterals Keep Houston Market Humming
Tom Huddleston Jr. : The Am Law Daily : May 13, 2013
Taken together, Katten Muchin Rosenman's recent move into Houston and a spate of lateral hires shows that a boom in energy-related work continues to attract new Am Law firms to Space City while motivating those already doing business there to bulk up.
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