It’s been more than a year since Shook, Hardy & Bacon dropped Lorillard Tobacco Company as a client in order to continue representing rival tobacco maker Philip Morris. Seventeen lawyers who handled Lorillard work left for Hughes Hubbard & Reed, and while Shook says those departures were amicable, its finances took a big hit.
The Kansas City, Missouri, firm saw its gross revenue fall 7.2 percent in 2012, to $317 million, while its profits per equity partner plunged nearly 16 percent, to $900,000the second-greatest PPP percentage drop of any Am Law 100 firm. Thanks to a 34-lawyer reduction in head count, revenue per lawyer remained stable at $725,000.
