Firm Profiles

For a firm that has gone by 16 names since its founding, and ultimately named itself for a presidential candidate who lost, Willkie Farr & Gallagher has done just fine. The firm, which was known as Hornblower & Byrne when it was started in New York in 1888, regularly scores in the top 15 on the ALM profitability index and in the top 20 in profits per partner. Topping the letterhead with 1940 Oval Office runner–up (and 1941 corporate lawyer) Wendell Willkie wasn’t such a bad move after all.

But there have been rough spots. The firm has a largely transactional practice (heavy in M&A, private equity, and bankruptcy and restructuring), a fact that helps explains the drubbing Willkie took during the recession. It ranked sixty–ninth of 84 firms in The American Lawyer’s Recession Performance Index, with gross revenue suffering a compound annual growth rate of minus 5 percent between 2007 and 2009, and revenue per lawyer a CAGR of minus 6 percent. Oddly, perhaps, Willkie’s lawyer head count actually increased throughout the economic downturn, another factor that reduced revenue per lawyer.

While net income began to swing upward in 2010, the joy wasn’t exactly contagious: Willkie placed 110th out of 126 firms on The American Lawyer’s 2011 Midlevel Associates Survey. It wasn’t too popular with prospective lawyers either, ranking eighty–eighth of 108 firms on the 2011 Summer Associates Survey. Fortunately, Willkie’s clients evidently rate the firm higher: Its roster includes A–list names like Bloomberg L.P., The Allstate Corporation, and Morgan Stanley.

—Updated 1/1/12