Revenue growth continues for Missouri’s largest law firms

Summary

• Polsinelli remained Missouri’s largest firm by revenue, reaching $1.21 billion in gross revenue in 2025.
• BCLP, Husch Blackwell, Shook, Hardy & Bacon, Spencer Fane and Stinson also reported revenue growth.
• Several firms pointed to lateral hiring, geographic expansion, litigation demand and strategic combinations as growth drivers.
• Firm leaders said artificial intelligence is playing a growing role in client service, internal operations and future strategy.

1. Polsinelli

Polsinelli reached a major financial milestone in 2025, with gross revenue rising $245.98 million — a 25.5 percent increase over the prior year — to $1.21 billion.

The firm also reported $722 million in profit, up 33.6 percent from the prior year.

CEO and Chairman Chase Simmons pointed to prior-year investments rather than any single matter, client or practice area.

“Our investments in previous years have been paying off,” Simmons said.

That included younger attorneys who were “hitting their stride.”

The firm’s move past $1 billion in revenue was a first for Polsinelli, but Simmons said the milestone did not change the firm’s core strategy.

“It doesn’t have anything other than a symbolic impact,” Simmons said. “It’s just — it was a good year. We’re the same firm we were at $950 million as we (are) at $1.2 billion.”

Polsinelli’s 2025 initiatives also included continued investment in artificial intelligence, including AI engineers and other professionals who can help lawyers understand and customize tools for legal work. Simmons said the firm has seen AI improve efficiency and quality control, though not in a way that has reduced the need for lawyers.

Looking ahead, Simmons said the firm remains focused on organic growth, staying financially strong and continuing to build out offices where Polsinelli wants to become a more full-service version of itself. He also emphasized the importance of the firm’s Missouri base, saying its St. Louis and Kansas City offices remain central to its national platform.

“We’ve got 1,200 lawyers around the country, and the engine that is Missouri — St. Louis and Kansas City — the importance of that overall … business model … just one more year of that … proving itself,” Simmons said.

2. BCLP

Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner reported stronger productivity across several core financial measures in 2025, with total revenue increasing 6 percent to $912.1 million and profit reaching $360.7 million.

Firm leadership, in written comments to Missouri Lawyers Media, said those gains are evidence that BCLP’s broader strategy is taking hold.

“We delivered double digit growth in 2025 across several key financial indicators, demonstrating that our strategic investments in growth markets, sectors, and clients are delivering measurable returns,” firm leadership said.

The firm said growth was supported by its client service approach across departments, including a stronger mid-market mergers and acquisitions and private equity practice. BCLP also added 25 strategic lateral hires globally in 2025 across areas including antitrust, finance transactions, international trade, white-collar defense, real estate, mergers and acquisitions and private equity.

Artificial intelligence also remained a focus. BCLP said it has been trialing and evaluating generative AI since early 2023 and is taking a portfolio approach rather than relying on a single tool.

“We envision AI as a transformative tool that can bring out the very best among our lawyers and staff, while delivering operational efficiencies that will allow them to focus on and prioritize high value work on behalf of our clients,” the firm said.

3. Husch Blackwell

Husch Blackwell reported another year of growth in 2025, increasing gross revenue by $73.8 million to reach $781.6 million, a 10.4 percent increase over the prior year.

The firm also reported $300.1 million in profit, up 10.8 percent from the prior year.

Chief Executive Jamie Lawless, in written comments to Missouri Lawyers Media, said client demand was a driver of the firm’s growth.

“Our growth is a result of continued organic growth of lateral attorneys to meet our clients’ demands,” Lawless said.

Litigation was a key driver of the firm’s year, including work by Husch Blackwell’s National Coordinating Counsel team, which focuses on complex mass tort and asbestos litigation. Lawless also highlighted several notable matters, including litigation work for Panasonic Healthcare Corporation in a case brought by Walgreen Co., representation of CBL Properties in a $178.9 million mall acquisition and development counsel work for Microsoft on ongoing data center projects in Southeast Wisconsin.

The firm also made operational changes aimed at preparing for future growth. Lawless said Husch Blackwell restructured its senior leadership team as part of a broader effort to scale the business.

“This paved the way for the creation of the Transformation Office — launched March 2026 — which brings innovation, data science, artificial intelligence and transformation functions under unified leadership to accelerate technology adoption and drive process changes,” Lawless said.

Husch Blackwell also continued building around artificial intelligence. Lawless said the firm launched a client-driven AI practice, expanded its team of data scientists and made strategic hires, including Mike Yang from Adobe, who now leads the AI Advisory Services team.

Looking ahead, Lawless said the firm entered 2026 with a new strategic plan.

“Our North Star is to transform the client experience through a continuous pursuit of Innovation, Exceptional Service, and a People-First Culture,” said Lawless.

4. Shook, Hardy & Bacon

Shook, Hardy & Bacon increased firmwide gross revenue $142.4 million in 2025, a 28.4 percent increase over the prior year. The firm recorded $643.4 million in gross revenue and $375.9 million in profit.

Chair Madeleine McDonough framed the year around the firm’s litigation and trial platform and what clients were asking for in complex matters.

“We did have a remarkably strong financial performance last year, and I think it was really matching what we do well to what our clients tell us that they want more of,” McDonough said.

McDonough said the firm has continued to build on its core litigation and trial platform, including complex commercial litigation, antitrust, multidistrict litigation and class actions. She also pointed to California as a key growth area, with the firm’s San Francisco, Los Angeles and Orange County offices seeing heavy litigation demand.

“In particular, I would say California has been a game changer,” she said.

Alternative fee arrangements and contingency recoveries also contributed to the firm’s performance. McDonough said the firm has long been active in alternative fee arrangements and has continued to build a pipeline of contingency fee matters.

“We like to bet on ourselves, and that’s been paying off,” she said.

The firm has also invested in its complex litigation strategic counseling group, which McDonough said helps clients with early strategic planning, discovery, technology issues and artificial intelligence issues, particularly in mass tort and multidistrict litigation.

Shook has been using AI both operationally and strategically, McDonough said. In large-scale matters, the technology can help lawyers analyze, sort and filter thousands of claims, while also supporting more strategic uses in litigation.

“It’s really game-changing in terms of just efficient volumes of analysis, or sorting and filtering and those sorts of operational … approaches,” said McDonough. “I think it’s made us faster and better, but really remarkably more agile in strategy … I think a lot of times people talk about AI just to do things faster, but we really want to do things differently.”

The firm also continued to grow through lateral hiring, particularly outside Kansas City. McDonough said the firm added lawyers in cities including Chicago, Boston, New York, San Francisco, Houston and Washington, D.C.

“Our growth outside of Kansas City has been significant,” McDonough said. “Our growth in Kansas City has been good, but even more so outside of Kansas City.”

5. Spencer Fane

Spencer Fane continued building out its national platform in 2025, with gross revenue climbing 25.5 percent to $404 million. The firm also reported $175.9 million in profit, up 28.3 percent from the previous year.

The growth has continued through a mix of geographic expansion, combinations and lateral hiring. In December 2025, Spencer Fane entered the New York market through a combination with Golenbock Eiseman Assor Bell & Peskoe, giving the firm 700 lawyers across 31 offices. The deal took effect in February.

Spencer Fane also announced in April 2026 that it would combine with Conner & Winters, a firm with more than 75 attorneys across Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas. The firm described the deal, effective July 1, as its largest combination to date.

The firm also opened a Chicago office in April 2026.

6. Stinson

After crossing the $300 million revenue mark for the first time in 2024, Stinson built on that momentum in 2025, increasing gross revenue 11.5 percent to $352.3 million.

The firm also reported $174.8 million in profit, up 8.9 percent from the prior year.

Managing Partner Allison Murdock said the financial results came as Stinson continued investing in new markets and technology.

“2025 was a tremendous year for Stinson, and on the finance side, the second year in a row, we had double digit revenue growth,” Murdock said.

Stinson’s expansion into California was a major development. The firm opened a Los Angeles office in March 2025 with two partners and grew it to 13 attorneys by year-end. In August, Stinson combined with Severson & Werson, an 80-year-old financial services litigation firm with offices in San Francisco and Irvine, giving Stinson three California offices.

“We strategically have been focused on expanding into California and Florida for three years,” Murdock said. “To finally, in 2025, to establish three offices there with great people — that was a real success.”

The firm also expanded its New York City office by moving into new space and added about 100 lawyers across its platform in 2025, including in California, New York, Tampa and other offices.

Several practices were especially busy, including labor and employment, mergers and acquisitions, bankruptcy, litigation and class action defense.

“We were firing on all cylinders,” Murdock said. “We just really had a number of practices that were really, really busy in 2025 which really drove our financial performance.”

While higher expenses remain a challenge for law firms and other businesses, Murdock said Stinson has continued to focus on operating efficiently while pursuing growth opportunities.

“We’re also very focused on business hygiene, making sure that we’re operating as a business in the most efficient way possible,” Murdock said.

7. Thompson Coburn

Thompson Coburn reached $305.7 million in gross revenue in 2025, moving past the $300 million mark for the first time.

The firm’s gross revenue increased 6.9 percent from the prior year, while revenue per lawyer was $693,072.

Chair Chris Hohn highlighted growth across revenue, lateral hiring, offices and infrastructure.

“We surpassed $300 million in revenue in 2025 which was a huge achievement for the firm, and not a mark that we had passed previously,” Hohn said.

The firm added more than 13 lateral partners in 2025, with Hohn pointing to strategic additions in labor and employment, bankruptcy and financial restructuring. The firm added strength to its Los Angeles labor and employment group, while also building out its bankruptcy practice in New York and Dallas.

Hohn said the firm’s bankruptcy and financial restructuring group continued gaining momentum in 2026, as more bankruptcy work has moved toward Texas and New York.

The firm also continued investing in its offices and technology platform. In 2025, Thompson Coburn secured permanent space for its Birmingham office, moved its southern Illinois presence to O’Fallon, Illinois, signed a long-term lease in New York and continued evaluating the future of its downtown St. Louis office.

Looking ahead, Hohn said the firm is focused on growing existing offices and practices, supporting practice group leaders with more advanced analytics and management tools, and rolling out Harvey as its firmwide artificial intelligence platform.

“I see it as an efficiency enhancer, a way … for us to do more work for clients and be more efficient,” Hohn said. “I think that’s going to free up attorneys to do even higher-level work.”

Macroeconomic pressures created some unevenness across practices, Hohn said, with areas such as mergers and acquisitions and commercial finance slowing while bankruptcy, labor and employment and litigation picked up.

“It’s sort of a testament to a diversified platform of practices,” he said.

8. Lathrop GPM

Lathrop GPM posted one of the larger revenue increases among Missouri’s top firms in fiscal 2025, reporting $263.3 million in gross revenue, up 31.3 percent from $200.5 million the prior year.

The firm reported $112.9 million in profit, up 33.5 percent from 2024.

The firm’s attorney headcount included 310.7 full-time equivalent attorneys and 76.4 equity partners, giving it a leverage ratio of 4.07.

Lathrop GPM’s 2025 growth followed its October 2024 combination with Silicon Valley firm Hopkins Carley, a move that increased the firm’s headcount by more than 20 percent and strengthened its California presence.

The firm continued expanding in California in May 2025, opening a Sacramento office downtown and expanding into the Central Valley. The Sacramento office became the firm’s fourth location in California and one of 14 offices nationally.

9. Armstrong Teasdale

Armstrong Teasdale’s gross revenue declined in 2025, but firm leadership said the drop reflected a deliberate decision to exit practices that did not fit the firm’s long-term financial and strategic goals.

The firm reported $177.4 million in gross revenue, down 9.3 percent from the prior year. But revenue per lawyer increased 10.7 percent to $813,761, and profit per equity partner rose 34.2 percent to $867,307. The firm reported $76.2 million in profit.

Managing Partner Richard W. Engel Jr. said Armstrong Teasdale made a conscious decision to move away from certain practices that were not meeting the financial metrics the firm had set for itself, including a New York condominium and co-op practice.

“We made … a conscious decision … to exit certain practices that were not meeting financial metrics that we had set for ourselves,” Engel said.

Those changes shifted the firm’s financial results toward metrics Engel said better reflect law firm health.

“Yes, revenue was down, gross revenue was down, but profit margins went up, and profit per partner went up dramatically compared to … what the loss in revenue was, and the same thing with revenue per lawyer,” he said.

The firm has spent the past year and a half to two years emphasizing core practices, Engel said, including intellectual property preparation and prosecution, intellectual property litigation, commercial litigation and middle-market mergers and acquisitions. While the firm continues to value other practice areas, he said those four areas are where Armstrong Teasdale is making its heaviest investments.

“There are areas that we believe we really excel in that we can compete with anyone in the industry,” said Engel.

Armstrong Teasdale is also testing and considering artificial intelligence tools before broader adoption in legal-service delivery. Engel said experienced attorneys bring judgment to the process, while younger attorneys often arrive with more familiarity using AI tools.

“The young attorney is more comfortable with (AI), so that combination and … really getting the more experienced attorneys to be comfortable with it is really the key to success with it,” Engel said.

Looking ahead, Engel said the firm is ahead of its financial plan so far in 2026 and remains focused on investing in the areas that align with its strategic plan.

“We feel very happy that our clients are responding to what we’ve done,” he said.

10. UB Greensfelder

UB Greensfelder reported $147.6 million in gross revenue in 2025.

The firm’s gross revenue increased 2.7 percent from the prior year. Profit rose 4.8 percent to $63 million, while revenue per lawyer increased 11.8 percent to $652,297. Profit per equity partner climbed 24.4 percent to $574,675.

Co-managing partner Kevin T. McLaughlin, in an emailed statement to Missouri Lawyers Media, said the firm has continued building momentum since its formation.

“We are proud of our performance in 2025,” McLaughlin said. “Since our formation in 2024, we have grown steadily, adding talented attorneys, deepening our client relationships, and expanding in the areas where our clients need us most.”

He also emphasized UB Greensfelder’s continued investment in Missouri and across its broader footprint.

“Our continued investment in Missouri and across our broader footprint reflects that commitment, and we remain focused on delivering the high-quality legal counsel our clients have come to expect,” McLaughlin said.