On April 18, 2019, The American Lawyer reported that Venable increased its gross revenue by 5.5 percent last year, to $570.2 million. The firm increased its total lawyer head count by 3.3 percent, and revenue per lawyer ticked up by 2.1 percent, to $868,000. The equity partnership contracted by 1.2 percent, helping boost profits per equity partner by 2.7 percent, to $1.165 million.
According to the article, the recent growth is largely attributable to the firm's combination with Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto in November 2018, the largest combination in firm history.
Larry Gesner, co-managing partner of Venable, said he expects the firm to continue growing outside its mid-Atlantic roots in the coming year. "The markets where we are not as big are a little bit easier to grow in, and those are San Francisco, LA, and New York, although now we're quite big in New York," Gesner said, noting the Fitzpatrick combination. "I think we'll continue to grow in those areas."
Gesner said the firm will continue to focus on the D.C. market, and that its initial concerns about how the market could change after President Trump took office have subsided. While various areas of the firm, such as antitrust work, are not "quite as active," Gesner said, other practices have been very active, including the firm's election law practice, its data security and privacy practices, and its payment processing practice.