Bruce MacEwen has an early look at the complete AmLaw 100 for 2005, the list of last year’s top-grossing firms. Five posted revenue in excess of $1 billion, the largest number ever.

I find it interesting that top-ranked Skadden earned $212 million more than number two Baker & McKenzie even though it has roughly half the number of lawyers — 1,554 at Skadden compared to 2,992 at Baker. That means that, on a per-lawyer basis, Skadden’s lawyers earned more than twice as much as Baker’s lawyers — $927,000 versus $410,000. The calculations for number three Latham & Watkins are more in line with Skadden — earning $234 million less than Skadden with 52 fewer lawyers, for revenues per lawyer of $803,000. There must be more to this story than these numbers reveal.

Photo of Bob Ambrogi Bob Ambrogi

Bob is a lawyer, veteran legal journalist, and award-winning blogger and podcaster. In 2011, he was named to the inaugural Fastcase 50, honoring “the law’s smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries and leaders.” Earlier in his career, he was editor-in-chief of several legal publications, including The National Law Journal, and editorial director of ALM’s Litigation Services Division.