Am Law 100 2026: The Ranking, Revenue, PEP and What Changed

Last updated: 5 November 2026. The 2026 Am Law 100 was published by The American Lawyer on 14 April 2026 and reports fiscal 2025 results. Its full tables sit behind Law.com’s paywall, so the figures here are as reported by Above the Law and LawFuel, which match each other. Calculations marked as ours are our own. Merger figures are the firms’ own or press estimates.

Short answer: The 2026 Am Law 100 shows Kirkland & Ellis first by revenue at $10.556 billion, the first firm past $10 billion, with Latham & Watkins second at $8.3 billion. Wachtell leads on profits per equity partner at $12.152 million. Combined revenue rose 13% to $178.95 billion, and average profits per equity partner rose 14% to $3.59 million.

Key takeaways

• Kirkland’s revenue grew 19.93%. Latham grew 18.57%, and both pulled further ahead of the rest of the list: No. 3 DLA Piper reported $4.583 billion.
• Gibson Dunn passed Skadden to reach No. 4, and Simpson Thacher climbed two places to No. 10 on 22.66% growth.
• Wachtell became the first firm above $12 million in profits per equity partner, up 34.48%, and leads on revenue per lawyer at $5.085 million.
• Next year’s list could look different. Hogan Lovells Cadwalader, Ashurst Perkins Coie and Winston Taylor all completed in mid 2026.

What is the Am Law 100 and how is it worked out?

The Am Law 100 is The American Lawyer’s annual ranking of US-based law firms by gross revenue. The 2026 edition covers fiscal year 2025, which Above the Law describes as calendar 2025. If you are new to the term, our guide to what Big Law means explains the firms behind the numbers.

The figures are not audited public accounts. In the most recent methodology note we could read, from 2019, ALM said most firms supply their financials voluntarily, and that it estimates for firms that decline. It defines the main measures like this:

• Gross revenue: fee income from legal work, leaving out disbursements and nonlegal businesses.
• Net income: total compensation to equity partners.
• Profits per equity partner (PEP): net income divided by the number of equity partners.
• Revenue per lawyer (RPL): gross revenue divided by lawyers, counted as average full-time equivalents.

Who are the top 10 firms in the Am Law 100 by revenue?

These ten rows are as far as we could verify from open sources. The rest of the list is behind the paywall, so we have not reproduced it.

Two things stand out. First, the top is pulling away. Kirkland and Latham together made about 10.5% of all Am Law 100 revenue, and the top 10 made about 27.9% (our calculation). Second, the middle of the table is tight: Sidley and Ropes & Gray are $1 million apart on rounded figures.

Scale alone does not explain Kirkland. It reported 4,145 lawyers and revenue per lawyer of $2.547 million, up 10.79%, so its growth came from both more lawyers and more revenue from each. Deal watchers can follow its announced work on DealDatabase’s Kirkland profile.

Which Am Law 100 firms have the highest profits per equity partner?

This list rewards a different model. Wachtell has just 272 lawyers, which is why it leads revenue per lawyer at $5.085 million, well ahead of Susman Godfrey at $2.876 million and Davis Polk at $2.588 million. Only Kirkland, Gibson Dunn, Latham and Simpson Thacher appear in the top 10 on both revenue and PEP.

What changed in the 2026 Am Law 100?

Almost everything went up. LawFuel’s summary and Above the Law give this picture, set here against the 2025 edition’s numbers:

Other changes worth noting:

• Breadth. 94 firms grew revenue, 92 grew revenue per lawyer, and 70 raised PEP by at least 10%. Only two firms reported PEP falling.
• Profit outran revenue. Net income rose 16.3%, faster than revenue, LawFuel reported.
• Rank moves near the top. Gibson Dunn moved up one place to No. 4, pushing Skadden down to No. 5, and Simpson Thacher rose two places into the top 10.
• Exceptions. Fragomen had the steepest revenue fall at 5.5%. Gordon Rees had the weakest RPL result, down 15.79%, and Cravath’s RPL was flat at $2.255 million, down 0.04%.
• Biggest jump. Littler Mendelson posted 40.89% revenue growth and a 33.73% rise in RPL.

Why such a strong year? We could not read The American Lawyer’s own analysis, and we would treat confident explanations with care. LawFuel’s preview pointed to a large rise in Wachtell’s M&A volume, and the wider pattern is that revenue grew much faster than lawyer numbers, which means each lawyer brought in more.

Why should you read PEP with care?

PEP is a fraction, and firms can change the bottom half. A firm that moves partners from equity to non-equity status raises PEP without earning a dollar more. That is the point the two-tier partnership makes so visible in these tables. In this edition, equity partners across the Am Law 100 grew about 2%, while non-equity partners grew nearly 7%, according to LawFuel.

So high PEP does not mean every partner earns that sum, and it says little about pay at firms with wide gaps between top and bottom. ALM’s definition also matters: it treats equity partners as those who receive no more than half their pay on a fixed basis. Compare firms on PEP and RPL together, and check the equity partner count where you can find it.

How will the 2026 mergers change next year’s Am Law 100?

Three big combinations completed in the middle of 2026, too late for these fiscal 2025 figures:

Our profile of Hogan Lovells Cadwalader notes that The Global Legal Post reported more than $3.9 billion on 2025 results. That would place it above Sidley’s $3.738 billion on this year’s table, but the comparison is rough: the firms grow, and the measures may differ. Our piece on Ashurst Perkins Coie explains why its first combined results are not expected until 2028.

We found no statement from The American Lawyer on how it will rank these firms, including whether a part-year combination or a firm with a London base will appear in the next list. Treat any forecast of a place in the 2027 table as a guess. Merger activity itself was not unusually high by count: Fairfax Associates recorded 43 completed in the first half of 2026, two more than a year earlier, and Law360 counted 35 announced, according to Best Law Firms.

What does the Am Law 100 mean for associates and clients?

For associates, the ranking is a rough guide to what a firm can afford, not a pay table. Many large firms pay on or near the Cravath scale, so high PEP does not mean higher first-year salaries. It tells you more about the partner track and the firm’s leverage. Our lawyer salary guide shows how pay varies beyond this group.

For clients, a strong year may give firms less reason to compromise on rates, although we have not verified 2025 billing rate data here. Private equity interest in the sector is another thread to watch, and our guide to MSOs and Rule 5.4 explains what US rules allow.

Frequently asked questions

Which firm is number one in the Am Law 100 for 2026?

Kirkland & Ellis, with gross revenue of $10.556 billion for fiscal 2025, up 19.93%. It is the first firm to pass $10 billion. Latham & Watkins is second at $8.3 billion. On profits per equity partner, Wachtell ranks first at $12.152 million.

What fiscal year does the 2026 Am Law 100 cover?

Fiscal year 2025, reported as calendar 2025 by Above the Law. The list was published on 14 April 2026, so the 2026 mergers do not appear in these figures. The next list should appear around April 2027, though we found no announced date.

How much do Am Law 100 partners make?

Average profits per equity partner across the group were $3.59 million in fiscal 2025, up 14%. At the top, Wachtell reported $12.152 million and Kirkland $11.121 million. This is an average for equity partners only. Non-equity partners and many others earn far less, and pay within a firm can vary widely.

How many Am Law 100 firms make more than $1 billion?

62 firms passed $1 billion in revenue in fiscal 2025, up from 58 the year before. The total across the list was $178.95 billion, an increase of 13% on the $158.3 billion reported in the previous edition.

Are Am Law 100 figures reliable?

They are the standard benchmark, but they are not audited accounts. ALM has said most firms provide figures voluntarily, that it estimates for those that decline and that its reporters check the data. It also corrects earlier figures, so percentage changes may not match old published numbers exactly.

What is the difference between the Am Law 100 and the Global 200?

The Am Law 100 ranks US-based firms. The Global 200 ranks firms worldwide, so it includes UK and other non-US firms. For a worldwide view, see our list of the biggest law firms in the world. We have not used Global 200 figures in this article.

This article is general information based on published rankings and press reports as of 5 November 2026. It is not career, investment or legal advice. Figures are as reported by the sources named, and firms’ own numbers can differ.

Featured image: Photo: Kidfly182 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (adapted)