The Best Measure of Success: Revenue, Reputation, or Relationships?

What truly defines success for law firms? While revenue growth, revenue per lawyer, profit per equity partner, and billable hours are obvious metrics, increasingly sophisticated and nuanced benchmarks are reshaping the way firms measure performance.

I'm Caroline Byrne, Associate Editor at Law.com International, bringing you this week's edition of The Global Lawyer.

Social media is now a powerful tool for burnishing a firm's reputation and recruiting top talent. Kudos then, to Baker McKenzie which has amassed a record 500,000-plus followers across all platforms and pole-vaulted into the most-followed Top 100 firm on LinkedIn. (Even pre-merger, Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling together couldn’t top those numbers.)

Branding is another intangible, but it is also a force that can slip into risky territory. Freshfields’ decision to scrap “Bruckhaus” and Deringer" from its marquee will be assessed as either a successful move to a unified global brand or a sign of diminished commitment to its 600-plus German lawyers as the firm pushes into the U.S. Senior partner Georgia Dawson was keen to dispel any negative interpretations last week but sceptics remain.

Rebranding is often linked to reputation, another key indicator of success. Like so many boutiques before it, Cairo’s GMS&P launched with only a handful of lawyers, aiming to disrupt Egypt's competitive legal landscape by leveraging the reputation of its three senior partners. It’s already planning a 'best friends' alliance with a U.K. firm to enhance the firm’s international standing.

Ethnic and gender diversity figures are another useful measure. Many large firms still fall short of national averages despite progress, while others use it as their selling point.

Growth is also an irresistible benchmark. Chinese law firm Yingke—already the world’s largest by headcount with 17,000 lawyers—launched its London HQ in late September and boasted about its plans to double the number of its international offices to 100 by 2026. Yingke is already in 41 countries with revenues of just over $1.3 billion but why settle for being the largest when world domination is just a lion’s dance away?

It’s not just Yingke. Even the tiniest players are eager to embrace the "global" label, refusing to be put in a geographic box—unless, of course, that box rates them as number one.

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