Still at the top: 2008 Chicago Lawyer’s eighth annual survey of Illinois’ largest law firms

At Sidley Austin’s annual meeting this past April, following tradition, the firm handed out clocks - nice, beautiful clocks - to 13 partners who had reached 25 years with the firm. With lawyers becoming free agents in the last couple of decades, partners and associates are moving between firms as frequently as baseball players shift from team to team. It perhaps is instructive that the largest of Chicago’s firms have a foundation in longevity.

The three gentlemen on the cover of this issue are the chairs of three of the four largest firms that have jostled back-and-forth at the top of the heap since Chicago Lawyer started running this survey — Kirkland & Ellis is now the largest, and has been since 2006; but in 2004 and 2005, Sidley Austin was on top; and before that, from 2001 to 2003, Mayer Brown was the largest firm in the state. During all those years, and for at least two decades, all three have been with the same firm, and have risen to the top. Dan K. Webb left the U.S. Attorney’s Office in 1985 to join Winston & Strawn, where he is now chairman of the firm; James D. Holzhauer, chairman of Mayer Brown, has been with his firm since 1988; and Thomas A. Cole, the chair of Sidley Austin’s executive committee, has been at Sidley his entire career, beginning in 1975.

This year’s survey shows, once again, modest growth among those 113 firms that participated — a little over 5 percent. Among the largest firms — the 37 firms with 100 and more lawyers — the growth was about 1.8 percent. Nineteen firms grew, 17 lost members, and one, Bollinger, Ruberry & Garvey, stayed the same.

Those firms with 100 or more lawyers in their Chicago offices with the largest percentage increase were Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, which increased from 178 lawyers to 198, an 11 percent increase; Swanson, Martin & Bell grew from 91 to 100, a nearly 10 percent increase; and Vedder Price had 9 percent growth, from 199 to 217.

The firms with the greatest decrease were McGuireWoods, which fell from 149 to 131, a 12 percent drop; Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, which lost 16 lawyers from last year’s total of 197, for an 8 percent loss; and DLA Piper, which dropped from 294 to 217, a little under 8 percent.

The top four firms grew this year: Kirkland & Ellis grew by 5 percent; Sidley Austin by 8 percent; Mayer Brown, with all the turmoil of last year, grew by 3 percent; and Winston & Strawn increased by 5 percent. Jenner & Block, the fifth-largest firm, lost six lawyers, from 386 to 380, about 1.5 percent.

The full survey, which lists the number of lawyers in Illinois and worldwide, is available for download and costs $20.00.