Firm Profiles
IN-DEPTH RESEARCH REPORT
on Nixon Peabody LLP
- - Financial Information
- - Compensation
- - Billing Rates
- - Lateral Partner Moves
- - Pro bono
- - Key Contacts
Nixon Peabody
- Designation: National
- Head Count: 612
- Gross Revenues: $436,000,000
- Revenue Per Lawyer: $715,000
- Profits Per Partner: $775,000
- Year Over Year Change: 1
In recent years, Nixon Peabody has focused on being more efficient and responsive to clients. The firm now offers alternative fee arrangements, has developed a proprietary legal project management program, and even named a “Chief Innovation Officer,” a partner whose job it is to advance ideas to improve client service and develop new business opportunities.
It’s easy to see why Nixon would want to change the system: The economic downturn was a potent, and unwelcome, wake–up call. The firm, which has significant transactional practices in areas including financial services, mergers & acquisitions, and private equity, laid off several dozen attorneys and staff in 2009, and even by 2011—when many other firms were recovering—its net income was below the firm’s prerecession peak. Revenues declined in 2011 and 2010. Perhaps not incidentally, morale among junior lawyers has been less than stellar: Nixon placed 127th of 137 firms on The American Lawyer’s 2010 Midlevel Associates Survey, and eighty–second of 126 firms in 2011.
Yet Nixon has a history of learning how to adapt. It is the product of two major mergers over the last decade and a half. First was the 1999 union of Rochester, New York?based Nixon, Hargrave, Devans & Doyle and Boston’s Peabody & Brown, both major firms with more than a century of history. In 2001 it merged with San Francisco’s Lillick & Charles, another century–old firm, but one with a focus on advising companies doing business in Asia. Nixon quickly embraced international work, opening a London office in 2007 and a Shanghai office in 2008, and forming an affiliation with a group of lawyers (now operating under the Nixon Peabody brand) in Paris. If Nixon’s strategies pan out, it won’t just be a more global firm than it used to be, but one that leverages—and prospers from—new ways of doing business.
—Updated 1/1/12
Firm Rankings
| Survey | Rank | Year Over Year Change | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Am Law 100 | 68 | 1 | Gross revenue |
| Am Law 200 | 68 | 1 | Gross revenue |
| NLJ 250 | 60 | 4 | Lawyer head count |
| The A-List | NR | N/A | Overall excellence |
| Pro Bono Scorecard | 61 | 8 | Pro-bono commitment |
| Diversity Scorecard | 128 | 5 | Minority head count |
| Midlevel Associates Survey | 82 | 45 | Job satisfaction |
| Summer Associates Survey | 89 | 8 | Summer programs |
In the News
McCarter & English Bond Fortunes Soar High, Fueled by State Issues
David Gialanella : New Jersey Law Journal : April 18, 2013
A spike in issues by New Jersey government entities helped McCarter & English leap to No. 5 nationwide in bond counsel rankings for the first quarter of 2013, up from 47th place in the same quarter last year.
Mark Zemelman
Lisa Holton : The Recorder : April 18, 2013
With the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, Kaiser's GC says it's a fascinating time to be in health care.
Pilots' Case Takes Nosedive, but Plaintiffs Bar Ekes out Small Arbitration Win
Scott Graham : The Recorder : April 11, 2013
Personal Notes on Lawyers
: New York Law Journal : April 9, 2013
Several firms announce additions and promotions, including Nixon Peabody, Jones Day and SNR Denton.
MOVERS
: The National Law Journal : April 8, 2013
Heath Rosenblat joins Drinker Biddle & Reath's corporate restructuring practice group as counsel to the New York office. Plus more law firm movers in this week's column.
Personal Notes on Lawyers
: New York Law Journal : April 4, 2013
Seven firms announce new additions, including Lewis Baach, a Washington D.C.-based litigation firm, which has launched a New York office with new partners Adam Kaufmann and Arthur Middlemiss.
Despite a Weak Economy, Job Bias Claims Dip Upstate
Christine Simmons : New York Law Journal : April 3, 2013
The results of a survey by defense firm Bond Schoeneck & King buck the conventional wisdom that workers pursue litigation during times of layoffs and high unemployment, but the 20 percent decline in the last decade generally mirrors national figures.
Profile: A Sense of Mission
Shannon Green : Corporate Counsel : April 1, 2013
Gail Norris | University of Rochester
The Churn: Lateral Moves in The Am Law 200
Diane Jeantet : The Am Law Daily : March 29, 2013
Jones Day hires a bankruptcy partner from Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft; Cozen O'Connor loses the cochair of its family law practice to Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel; and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan expands in London. The Churn is constant. Please send all announcements to thechurn@alm.com.
Today, Asia. Tomorrow. . .?
Anthony Lin : The American Lawyer : March 27, 2013
Managing partners, relax. King & Wood Mallesons isn't coming to the U.S. or Europe—yet. It has to get a few things right in Asia first.
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