Canada’s homegrown law firms are holding their own in Legal Week’s international law firm rankings
October 17, 2016
Canada’s homegrown law firms, the ones who have not been absorbed by the global behemoths and who still have most of their lawyers in Canada, are holding their own in international law firm rankings.
Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt comes in 77th on Legal Week’s “Global 100: By Revenue” list, with some $550 million in billings. Blake, Cassels & Graydon follows in 89th spot, generating about $425 million. By way of comparison, U.S.-based Latham & Watkins ranks first in revenues with $2.65 billion.
Firms from the U.S. and U.K. dominate the list, but otherwise only two firms from China, one from Australia and a South Korean firm rank ahead of the Canadians.
On the partner profits front, three Canadian firms rank in the Top 100. Again, Osler is the top Canadian entity, standing 70th with average partner profit of $1.045 million; Blakes is 77th, coming in at $985,000; and Fasken Martineau DuMoulin stands 98th at $795,000. U.S.-based Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz leads the list with partners taking home $6.6 million on average.
Border Ladner Gervais has the most lawyers of any homegrown Canadian firm. The firm’s 745 lawyers put it at 80th on the Top 100. Fasken Martineau’s 682 lawyers garner the 88th spot. Denton’s, with 6,568 lawyers, is the world’s largest law firm by headcount.
The U.S. legal publisher notes that in some instances, it estimates the totals assigned to various firms ranked in the annual list.
After this item was first published on Monday, Osler spokesperson Judy Stein-Korte contacted Legal Post to note that firm does not provide data to the U.S. publisher: “Osler has never participated in any survey in which we are asked for financial data including the recently published Global 100 List. Numbers attributed to Osler are entirely speculative.”