Focused on Long-Term Profit Growth, Blank Rome Sees Strong 2023
Blank Rome Chair and Managing Partner Grant S. Palmer spoke with The Legal Intelligencer about the firm’s strong performance, commitment to our strategic plan, and approach to measured growth that aligns with the needs of our clients.
Article Excerpt:
Blank Rome saw growth across the board in 2023, including a double-digit increase in net income and notable spikes in profits per equity partner (PEP) and gross revenue.
The firm’s PEP metric came in at about $1.47 million in 2023, an 8.7% increase from the prior year, outpacing the firm’s gross revenue, which grew by 7.7% to about $625 million. Net income growth surpassed both PEP and revenue, increasing by 10.2% to hit just over $230 million.
According to firm managing partner and chairman Grant Palmer, this is the fifth consecutive year in which net income growth surpassed 8.5%, coinciding with the course of the firm’s five-year strategic plan.
“Our strategic plan started in 2019 and really has a number of components that I think have led to our success,” Palmer said. “We’ve managed the law firm in a way to continue long-term profit growth.”
Controlled Expenses and Moderate Head Count Growth
According to Palmer, the firm’s success can be attributed to its disciplined budget combined with controlled head count growth.
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Yet he also acknowledged that the firm’s steady partnership levels came about organically.
“We’re focused on ensuring that the lawyers at Blank Rome feel valued and have the status and position within the firm that they believe they deserve to have,” Palmer said. “We’re not interested in what the outside world is saying about our number of partners … for us, it’s really about valuing our people and making sure they feel they are valued for what they are doing.”
Plans for 2024
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While the firm remains open to geographical expansion, Palmer is “not interested in dramatic expansion in a short period of time,” including via mergers.
“We want to be a firm that still has a small firm feel where the partners all know each other,” Palmer explained. “We’re more interested in individual lateral hiring and smaller groups of individuals.”
“Focused on Long-Term Profit Growth, Blank Rome Sees Strong 2023,” by Amanda O’Brien was published in The Legal Intelligencer on February 29, 2024, and in the New York Law Journal on March 4, 2024.