After three years of declines in gross revenue, Steptoe & Johnson LLP reversed course in 2015. The firm’s gross revenue rose 1.4 percent, to $357.5 million, while revenue per lawyer increased 4.4 percent, to $955,000, and profits per partner climbed 3.3 percent, to $940,000.

“We set a plan, and it’s working,” says chairman Philip West. The firm last year gave practice group leaders more power to evaluate their groups. Some focused on improving productivity, while others identified ways to enhance competitiveness and profitability through pricing. “We may have been a little bit slow to focus on how entrepreneurial we need to be,” West says. “Our lawyers didn’t need very long to realize that sitting on our reputation is not enough.”