Goodwin Procter was founded in 1912, by Harvard classmates Robert Goodwin and Joseph Procter. And in the 1960’s specialized in legal work around Real Estate trusts. This niche allowed them to grow in strength, and credibility, eventually allowing them to expand between 01′ and 02′ establishing an office in New York as well as hiring 27 new lawyers.  At that time they also  approved a strategic plan to focus on six key areas of legal practice focusing on technology, real estate, and intellectual property.

In 2004 Goodwin Procter hit a road-bump, when 16 of their 27 lawyers in it’s Washington, D.C. office left to form Buckley Kolar which specializes in Financial services.  But they bounced right back, merging with Shea & Gardner, and restructuring their practice groups while adding 70 new lawyers. Then again in 2005 they added another 91 lawyers from the now defunct technology specialist firm Hurwitz.

Since then they have expanded even further, opening offices in San Francisco, Century City, San Diego, Los Angeles, and Silicon Valley. This expansion has been very successful, as the numbers will relate. More than tripling their gross revenue since 2000 topping out at $611 million and doubled their profits per partner, ending up at $1.54 million.

While Goodwin Procter may be one of the biggest movers, that doesn’t mean they’re the biggest profiter. Two firms broke through the $2 billion barrier this year including Skadden, Arps and Latham & Watkins. With the top 100 firms totaling 64.5 billion, there’s a lot of money moving around. Even the lowest firms on the list profited significantly. With total profits across all firms rising 13.6 percent since the last report.

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