Am Law 100 Gross Revenue $179 Billion in 2025 — Up 13%; Kirkland Becomes First Law Firm to Cross $10 Billion; 62 Firms Now Above $1 Billion

The Am Law 100 delivered its strongest financial year on record in 2025: gross revenue rose 13% to just under $179 billion; average profit per equity partner climbed 14% to $3.59 million; Kirkland & Ellis became the first law firm in history to exceed $10 billion in annual revenue, with equity partners averaging approximately $11.1 million; Wachtell Lipton partners averaged $12.15 million; 62 firms cleared $1 billion in revenue. In London, Linklaters passed £1 billion in pre-tax profit for the first time. The revenue growth is real and broad-based, but a structural tension is embedded in the numbers: work performed by partners at the largest firms accounts for approximately 35% of billed work, versus 44% at smaller firms — which means the revenue engine is increasingly dependent on a shrinking pool of senior producers, not on leverage. The lateral market that this creates is unsustainable on current terms: top Kirkland partners bill above $2,500 per hour, London partners at American firms earn three times the compensation of Magic Circle counterparts, and partners who can demonstrate portable clients increasingly calculate that they can retain a larger share of their economics outside the platform. In-house counsel report that nearly 60% have seen no noticeable savings from firms' generative AI use, and only 13% report fewer billable hours because of AI — meaning the revenue pool is intact for now, but clients are watching closely. For CFOs and managing partners: the record profit year is not evidence that the current model is secure. It is evidence that the model is generating maximum extractable value at the point just before its cost structure shifts materially.