US law firms are seeing a dip in revenues, the latest banking report reveals. Law firms saw revenues slack off in the third quarter with an average 3.7 per cent growth compared with 4.8 per cent in the first half of the year. The report by Wells Fargo also saw revenue per lawyer slip from 3.2 per cent in the first six months versus 2.3 per cent in the third quarter. The largest law firms outperformed the rest with Am Law 100 firms seeing growth at 4.4 per cent versus 1 per cent from the Am Law Second Hundred firms in revenue and revenue per lawyer at 2.6 per cent versus 1.1 per cent. 

Top performers

Among Am Law 100 respondents, there was a great disparity in growth with the best performers enjoying revenue rises of more than 25 per cent whilst the worst saw revenue drop by 14 per cent. Revenues grew for nearly half (46 per cent) of firms between two and five per cent whilst 20 per cent of firms grew by over 10 per cent. The survey of 135 law firms was carried out by Wells Fargo Private Bank's Legal Speciality Group and backed up findings by Citi Bank earlier this week.