Some people talk about giving up their luxurious lifestyles to help those in need.

In 1999, Roy Ferguson actually did it.

He and his wife sold their Mercedes and their Houston house and purchased a used four-cylinder truck. They then moved to Marfa, a town of just under 2,000 in an ultrarural part of West Texas about 60 miles from the Mexican border, landing at a ranch with no air conditioning.

Working out of a shuttered hotel, Ferguson practiced what he calls “community law,” helping locals with civil and family law matters. Thirteen years later, Ferguson won the judgeship for the 394th Judicial District Court, the state’s largest judicial district, covering five counties in far-west Texas.

Immediately after taking the bench, Ferguson noticed the length of time it took per case.

“Because there are so few lawyers, they end up taking on more clients than they can help,” he says. “The result is that in a large scheme over time, the cases slow down.”

Ferguson visited his county courthouses and personally navigated every case, and he discovered that in a nine-month period, three counties had disposed of only 14 criminal cases total.

He implemented a streamlined case management process that dramatically sped up timelines, and in 2017, Ferguson secured a grant from the Texas Indigent Commission to create the Far West Texas Regional Public Defender’s Office, which serves the entire district.

On the civil side, Ferguson developed a template requiring cases to be disposed within specific deadlines. He also effectively eliminated stacking trial weeks. Soon, Ferguson’s civil docket dwindled, so he looked at other improvements he could make. He created a website and a new process for self-represented cases, and the average length of a pro se divorce went from 18 months down to 61 days, he says.

The Hon. Dean Rucker, a senior judge in Midland, Texas, considers one of Ferguson’s most innovative adjustments to be his protocol for recording civil and criminal court proceedings.

“For large judicial districts in Texas like the 394th District Court, these procedures, pioneered by Judge Ferguson and his able court coordinator/court recorder, are a welcome answer to a difficult situation,” Rucker says.

Ferguson likens himself to a teacher, saying that by “making the process better,” people will develop more trust with and faith in the legal system.

His teaching style was evident globally in 2021 when Ferguson explained to an attorney stuck behind a cat filter during a Zoom hearing—how to revert to human form. The video, nicknamed “I am not a cat” after said attorney felt the need to issue such a disclaimer, went viral and served as a representation of the early days of the pandemic.

Ferguson, 56, announced his retirement from the bench in 2023, but will remain on multiple committees and commissions, allowing him to help other judges make similar improvements.

“My belief is, if you do something you do because it’s always been done, you’re wrong,” he says. “Always ask, ‘Why?’”

Legal Rebels Class of 2025

Rodrigo Camarena

Roy Ferguson

Joan Howarth and Deborah Jones Merritt

Oregon State Board of Bar Examiners

Swapna Reddy

Jacqueline Schafer

Noella Sudbury

In This Podcast:

1. Home
2. Daily News
3. ‘Very strong performance’ reported for law…

Law Firms

‘Very strong performance’ reported for law firms in 2024, with revenue increasing 12.5%

By Debra Cassens Weiss

January 29, 2025, 11:59 am CST

Growth in billing rates contributed to a 12.5% increase in law firm revenue in 2024, up from 6% in 2023, according to a year-end survey by Wells Fargo’s Legal Specialty Group.

The 2024 increase was topped only by a 14% increase in revenue reported in 2021.

“The law firm industry experienced very strong performance in 2024,” Wells Fargo reported in a media summary.

More than 130 firms, most of them among the nation’s 200 top-grossing firms, participated in the survey.

Other survey findings for 2024 included:

  • Standard billing rates increased 9.1%, up from an 8.3% increase in 2023.

  • Average profits per equity partner increased 16.9% as firms kept “tight control” over the size of equity partner ranks, which increased by only 0.3%.

  • Demand, measured by billable hours, increased 3.5% for the year, up from 0.7% in 2023.

  • Total expenses increased 9%, up from 6% in 2023. The number likely reflected higher associate bonuses and more year-end expense prepayments.

Firms among the Am Law 50, representing the nation’s 50 highest-grossing firms, did better than the rest. They had growth of 13.9% for revenue, 10% for billing rates, 3.9% for demand and 18.9% for profits per equity partner.

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Some people talk about giving up their luxurious lifestyles to help those in need.

In 1999, Roy Ferguson actually did it.

He and his wife sold their Mercedes and their Houston house and purchased a used four-cylinder truck. They then moved to Marfa, a town of just under 2,000 in an ultrarural part of West Texas about 60 miles from the Mexican border, landing at a ranch with no air conditioning.

Working out of a shuttered hotel, Ferguson practiced what he calls “community law,” helping locals with civil and family law matters. Thirteen years later, Ferguson won the judgeship for the 394th Judicial District Court, the state’s largest judicial district, covering five counties in far-west Texas.

Immediately after taking the bench, Ferguson noticed the length of time it took per case.

“Because there are so few lawyers, they end up taking on more clients than they can help,” he says. “The result is that in a large scheme over time, the cases slow down.”

Ferguson visited his county courthouses and personally navigated every case, and he discovered that in a nine-month period, three counties had disposed of only 14 criminal cases total.

He implemented a streamlined case management process that dramatically sped up timelines, and in 2017, Ferguson secured a grant from the Texas Indigent Commission to create the Far West Texas Regional Public Defender’s Office, which serves the entire district.

On the civil side, Ferguson developed a template requiring cases to be disposed within specific deadlines. He also effectively eliminated stacking trial weeks. Soon, Ferguson’s civil docket dwindled, so he looked at other improvements he could make. He created a website and a new process for self-represented cases, and the average length of a pro se divorce went from 18 months down to 61 days, he says.

The Hon. Dean Rucker, a senior judge in Midland, Texas, considers one of Ferguson’s most innovative adjustments to be his protocol for recording civil and criminal court proceedings.

“For large judicial districts in Texas like the 394th District Court, these procedures, pioneered by Judge Ferguson and his able court coordinator/court recorder, are a welcome answer to a difficult situation,” Rucker says.

Ferguson likens himself to a teacher, saying that by “making the process better,” people will develop more trust with and faith in the legal system.

His teaching style was evident globally in 2021 when Ferguson explained to an attorney stuck behind a cat filter during a Zoom hearing—how to revert to human form. The video, nicknamed “I am not a cat” after said attorney felt the need to issue such a disclaimer, went viral and served as a representation of the early days of the pandemic.

Ferguson, 56, announced his retirement from the bench in 2023, but will remain on multiple committees and commissions, allowing him to help other judges make similar improvements.

“My belief is, if you do something you do because it’s always been done, you’re wrong,” he says. “Always ask, ‘Why?’”

Legal Rebels Class of 2025

Rodrigo Camarena

Roy Ferguson

Joan Howarth and Deborah Jones Merritt

Oregon State Board of Bar Examiners

Swapna Reddy

Jacqueline Schafer

Noella Sudbury

In This Podcast:

1. Home
2. Daily News
3. Which BigLaw firms are increasing lateral…

Law Firms

Which BigLaw firms are increasing lateral associate hiring the most? One made legal headlines last year

By Debra Cassens Weiss

April 4, 2024, 11:24 am CDT

As a whole, BigLaw firms have reduced lateral hiring of associates over the last two years, a phenomenon documented in a report by the National Association for Law Placement.

But some high grossing law firms are bucking the trend, Reuters reports in a story that relies on data from legal data intelligence provider Leopard Solutions.

No. 1 for raw numbers in lateral associate hiring is Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith, which had to grapple with the loss of 140 lawyers who left to start a new firm last year.

Lewis Brisbois hired 279 lateral associates in 2023, an “uncharacteristically high” number, the firm’s managing partner, Greg Katz, told Reuters columnist Jenna Greene in an email. The firm has also improved its management structure and is bringing on “top talent of every experience level,” Katz said.

Despite the new hires, Lewis Brisbois had 48 fewer associates at the end of 2023 than at the beginning, when there were 659 associates, according to Leopard Solutions, which collected its data from the websites of the nation’s 200 top grossing firms.

But the new firm made up of former Lewis Brisbois lawyers fared much worse. It imploded amid revelations that two of its leaders had sent offensive and derogatory office emails.

Other BigLaw firms increasing lateral associate hiring are Jackson Lewis (which hired 130 lateral associates last year) and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison (which hired 113 lateral associates in 2023).

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