The Brief:
Big Law leaves top tiers in the dust as Kirkland tops A$14m PEP
Australia’s top firms sit closer to A$2.7m PEP
The 2025 Global 200 report shows the world’s largest law firms pocketed an 11.8% revenue bump, with the top 100 firms seeing profits per equity partner jump 17.9% year-on-year.
At the top of the pile, Kirkland & Ellis smashed records with US$8.8bn (A$13.3bn) in revenue and US$9.25m (A$14m) PEP, making it both the highest-grossing and most profitable firm worldwide.
The rest of the profit leaderboard is stacked with US names.
🥈 Wachtell - US$9m (A$13.6m)
🥉 Quinn Emanuel - US$8.64m (A$13.1m)
While Davis Polk - US$7.8m (A$11.8m), Simpson Thacher - US$7.66m (A$11.6m) and Paul Weiss - US$7.54m (A$11.4m) rounded out the top 6.
Australia’s top tiers look modest in comparison. HSF at US$1.83m (A$2.8m) and Ashurst at US$1.7m (A$2.6m) PEP, while KWM scraped into the top 100 with a reported US$360k (A$540k) PEP – though its Verein structure means the number is largely meaningless.
One thing is for sure: the tier gap is widening.
“There’s increasing segmentation between the elite tier of law firms and the next tier. … We’re seeing star talent and top clients increasingly concentrated in a relatively small number of elite global firms”, said One BigLaw leader.
And while Aussie rainmakers max out at A$7m, Bloomberg reports that at white shoe US firms, the true superstars can pocket tens of millions a year – even north of US$30m.