The legal industry is fixated on numbers—law firm revenue, profits per equity partner, revenue per lawyer, associate pay, rankings, and more. But numbers by themselves have little meaning. There’s a story behind them, and it may not be what you think.
M&A league tables, for example, purport to show winners and losers in various markets around the world. Recent rankings from the first six months of 2024 indicate that Skadden, Arps, Slate Meagher & Flom was the top legal adviser in M&A globally and in Europe. In Asia, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett led the rankings for deal value in the first half, while in Latin America, Brazilian firms, notably Pinheiro Neto Advogados, took the top spots. In the U.K., Linklaters topped the rankings.
While these numbers provide interesting insights, they reveal only part of the picture. Law firms focusing narrowly on these metrics may miss broader, more meaningful trends impacting their clients and markets. For more details, see Law Firm Numbers: They’re Not All That They Seem.