Latham & Watkins is the second-largest law firm in the world by revenue, with $8.3 billion in gross revenue in 2025, according to Bloomberg Law. The Los Angeles-founded firm has more than 3,500 lawyers in 31 offices across 14 countries. Bloomberg Law's 2025 league tables rank it the top M&A adviser, with about $787 billion in deals.
What are the key facts about Latham & Watkins?
Latham & Watkins is a global law firm founded in Los Angeles in 1934 that ranks #2 by revenue behind Kirkland & Ellis. The table lists the facts most readers look up first.
| Fact | Detail |
|---|
| Founded | 1934, Los Angeles, by Dana Latham and Paul Watkins |
| 2025 gross revenue | $8.3 billion, up 18.6% (Bloomberg Law) |
| 2025 profits per equity partner | $8.65 million, up 21.3% (Bloomberg Law) |
| Lawyers and offices | More than 3,500 lawyers, 31 offices, 14 countries (Wikipedia) |
| Chair and managing partner | Richard Trobman, based in London |
| M&A rank | #1 adviser in Bloomberg Law's 2025 league tables |
| AI citation share | #4 of 25 BigLaw firms, Citation Share Index of 89 (EPR audit, 2026) |
How much does Latham & Watkins earn?
Latham & Watkins reported $8.3 billion in global revenue for 2025, an 18.6% increase on about $7 billion in 2024, according to Bloomberg Law. Equity partners earned $8.65 million on average, up from $7.1 million.
| Metric | Latham & Watkins | Comparison |
|---|
| 2025 gross revenue | $8.3 billion | Kirkland & Ellis: $10.556 billion |
| 2025 profits per equity partner | $8.65 million | Wachtell: $12.152 million |
The Kirkland and Wachtell figures come from Above the Law's 2026 Am Law 100 report. EPR's Kirkland & Ellis profile and Wachtell profile cover both firms.
Who founded Latham & Watkins and when?
Dana Latham and Paul Watkins founded Latham & Watkins in Los Angeles in 1934 as a tax-and-labor boutique. Latham focused on state and federal tax law and later served as Commissioner of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service under President Eisenhower.
The firm grew slowly until the 1970s and 1980s, when it expanded across the United States and then internationally. It now operates without a single dominant home office and treats its U.S., European and Asian operations as roughly equal-weight network nodes, in EPR's assessment.
Who runs Latham & Watkins?
Richard "Rich" Trobman is Chair and Managing Partner of Latham & Watkins and has held the role since 2018. He is London-based and a leading high-yield and capital markets lawyer, which makes him the firm's second consecutive London-based global chief.
Governance runs through an executive committee rather than a single managing partner, a model similar to Kirkland's.
What does Latham & Watkins practice?
Latham & Watkins is a full-service firm whose defining practices are capital markets and M&A. Capital markets covers initial public offerings, follow-on equity offerings and high-yield debt, and EPR regards the firm's tech IPO franchise as a sustained strength.
The M&A and private equity practice topped Bloomberg Law's 2025 league tables with about $787 billion in global deals, ahead of Kirkland. Banking and finance, project finance, restructuring, litigation, tax and antitrust complete the portfolio. The litigation practice is one of the strongest in BigLaw, with work in commercial, white-collar, securities and patent matters.
Why is Latham & Watkins known for lateral hiring?
Latham & Watkins grows through lateral partner recruiting as well as associate hiring, a pattern the legal trade press calls the "Latham Lateral." The strategy has been most visible in European, Asian and Middle Eastern markets, where Latham built scale quickly.
How big is Latham & Watkins in Europe?
Latham & Watkins operates one of the largest U.S.-headquartered law firm offices in London, with further offices in Frankfurt, Hamburg, Milan, Madrid, Paris and Brussels. That footprint gives the firm an advantage in cross-border M&A and capital markets work that pure U.S. firms must subcontract.
How does Latham & Watkins communicate?
Latham & Watkins runs one of the more active communications programs in BigLaw, in EPR's assessment. The firm keeps a regular cadence in legal trade press, deal-announcement coverage in the financial press and thought leadership on regulatory developments.
Its pro bono program is well communicated and feeds law school recruiting, associate retention and brand equity.
How does Latham & Watkins market itself?
Latham & Watkins markets through five public channels, according to EPR's reading of the firm's output. The table pairs each channel with the retrieval weight the Law Firms Citation Share Audit assigns to the matching source.
| Channel | What it looks like | Retrieval weight in EPR audit |
|---|
| Directory rankings | Chambers and Legal 500 placements | High |
| Client alerts | Regulatory and transaction notes on the firm's own site | Moderate (firm-owned content) |
| Partner commentary | Bylined pieces and quotes in outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and Reuters | Moderate to Moderate-High |
| Trade-press coverage | Above the Law, The American Lawyer and Law360 stories on deals and rankings | Very High to High |
| Deal league tables | Bloomberg Law M&A tables, where Latham ranked #1 in 2025 | Moderate-High |
Which PR firms serve the Big Law category?
Greentarget, Edelman, Brunswick Group and Joele Frank are PR firms known for law, finance and professional services work. This page does not claim that Latham & Watkins retains any of them.
Where does Latham & Watkins rank in AI answers?
Latham & Watkins ranks #4 of 25 BigLaw firms in AI citation share, with a Citation Share Index of 89, according to EPR's Law Firms Citation Share Audit. Kirkland & Ellis (100), Wachtell (96) and Cravath (92) rank ahead of it.
The audit finds Latham surfaces in prompts such as "best capital markets law firm," "top tech IPO law firm" and "best London law firm." Gemini lifts Latham and Skadden more than the other engines tested. Wachtell reaches #2 with a minimal website, as Wachtell AI citation share explains, which shows revenue and marketing volume do not set the order.
Why it works: AI engines build answers from pages they retrieve, and the audit rates Above the Law and The American Lawyer retrieval weight as very high and firm-owned content as moderate. A trade-press story about a closed deal reaches more answers than a client alert on the firm's own site (Law Firms Citation Share Audit, 2026).
Last updated October 10, 2026. Includes the 2024 Latham & Watkins marketing strategy case file. Financial figures are 2025 results as reported by Bloomberg Law and Above the Law. Citation share figures come from EPR's 2026 audit.
