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Associate Leverage Differs by City
February 2, 2007 On a nationwide basis, major law firms continue to employ one associate for every partner, and most firms’ leverage is primarily made up of associates. However, the leverage of associates to partners is at its lowest level since 1995 and the amount of leverage firm’s use differs heavily from city to city. These are the principal findings of a study of 1500 law offices released by NALP last week. Detailed results by type of leverage, firm size and by city are shown below:
Leverage by Firm Size
|
|
Ratio of Lawyers to Partners
|
Ratio of Associates to Partners
|
Ratio of Other Lawyers to Partners
|
|
100 to 250 lawyers
|
1.91
|
.73
|
.18
|
|
251-500 lawyers
|
2.12
|
.89
|
.23
|
|
501-700 lawyers
|
2.56
|
1.31
|
.25
|
|
701+ lawyers
|
2.60
|
1.38
|
.21
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Leverage by City
|
|
Ratio of Lawyers to Partners
|
Ratio of Associates to Partners
|
Ratio of Other Lawyers to Partners
|
|
Atlanta
|
2.18
|
1.02
|
0.17
|
|
Austin
|
1.99
|
0.79
|
0.20
|
|
Baltimore
|
1.79
|
0.64
|
0.15
|
|
Birmingham
|
1.70
|
0.58
|
0.12
|
|
Boston area
|
2.30
|
1.13
|
0.16
|
|
Charlotte
|
2.06
|
0.91
|
0.16
|
|
Chicago
|
1.95
|
0.83
|
0.12
|
|
Cincinnati
|
1.89
|
0.74
|
0.15
|
|
Cleveland
|
2.13
|
0.91
|
0.23
|
|
Columbus
|
1.99
|
0.77
|
0.22
|
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Dallas
|
2.20
|
1.01
|
0.19
|
|
Denver
|
1.92
|
0.74
|
0.19
|
|
Detroit area
|
1.71
|
0.49
|
0.22
|
|
Ft. Lauderdale/W. Palm Beach
|
1.83
|
0.67
|
0.15
|
|
Grand Rapids
|
1.59
|
0.38
|
0.20
|
|
Hartford
|
2.16
|
0.87
|
0.29
|
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Houston
|
2.17
|
0.94
|
0.23
|
|
Indianapolis
|
1.94
|
0.66
|
0.28
|
|
Kansas City area
|
2.04
|
0.68
|
0.36
|
|
Los Angeles area
|
2.41
|
1.21
|
0.20
|
|
Miami
|
1.92
|
0.82
|
0.10
|
|
Milwaukee
|
1.64
|
0.55
|
0.08
|
|
Minneapolis/St. Paul
|
1.73
|
0.59
|
0.13
|
|
Nashville
|
1.79
|
0.69
|
0.10
|
|
New Orleans
|
1.67
|
0.54
|
0.14
|
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New York City
|
3.16
|
1.86
|
0.29
|
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Northern NJ/Newark area
|
2.48
|
1.22
|
0.27
|
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Northern Virginia
|
2.10
|
0.94
|
0.16
|
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Orange Co., CA
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