Lee & Ko 762 Million, Yulchon 759 Million... "Revenue Per Lawyer" Battle Splits the 400 Billion Won Club [Invest&Law]

RPL Emerges as a Key Productivity Metric
Figures Vary by Workforce Size and Client Engagement
Lee & Ko Posts Steep Growth with KRW 281.2 Billion in Sales
Strategic Focus on M&A Advisory and Financial Litigation
Yulchon, Bae, Kim & Lee, Shin & Kim, and Kwangjang in Close Pursuit

With the release of last year's performance results from major law firms, competition over "Revenue Per Lawyer (RPL)" in Korea is intensifying. This is because the increasing number of cases involving large-scale deals, regulatory response, and disputes is directly reflected in law firms' workforce management and work portfolios, which in turn impact their performance indicators. RPL is calculated by dividing annual revenue by the number of Korean-licensed lawyers, representing the revenue generated by a single lawyer in one year. Even with the same total revenue, the figure varies depending on workforce size and client engagement structure, making it a key metric for assessing productivity.

According to the legal community on January 21, the RPL at Lee & Ko for 2025 was tallied at 762 million won per lawyer, ranking first among major law firms except for Kim & Chang. This was followed by Yulchon (759 million won), Bae, Kim & Lee (736 million won), Shin & Kim (723 million won), and Kwangjang (713 million won).

Lee & Ko posted sales of 281.2 billion won last year, showing steep growth-a 12.5% increase (25 billion won) compared to 2024. The firm attributes this to a strategy of "selection and concentration." Lee & Ko strategically recruited top talent in high-demand areas such as M&A, finance, fair trade, labor, and government relations (GRC), restructuring the organization. This led to an expansion of client engagements and improved profitability. Last year, Lee & Ko achieved results in corporate advisory work such as the comprehensive stock swap between Naver and Dunamu and the sale of Hyosung Chemical's specialty gas business, as well as in major cases like the Asiana Airlines contract deposit return lawsuit and the ELS misselling litigation.

Among the "400 billion won club"-Shin & Kim, Bae, Kim & Lee, Kwangjang, and Yulchon-Yulchon leads in RPL at 759 million won. The firm is credited with maintaining qualitative growth by proactively expanding into new industries such as artificial intelligence (AI), personal data, and defense, while also sustaining its traditional strengths in tax, litigation, and fair trade. Yulchon Managing Partner Kang Seokhun stated, "Yulchon's core philosophy of innovation and collaborative culture is behind our high production efficiency. We will continue to make AI legal tech a core strategy to enhance work efficiency and raise competitiveness across all areas, including new industries and overseas regulatory response."

Bae, Kim & Lee's RPL was 736 million won, supported by its ability to handle mega-scale disputes such as the 13-year-long Lone Star ISDS arbitration and cross-border M&A simultaneously. Shin & Kim's RPL stood at 723 million won, with balanced growth in M&A, cybersecurity advisory, corporate litigation (civil and criminal), tax, and fair trade translating into efficient revenue per headcount. Kwangjang, despite focusing on strengthening expertise rather than expanding headcount, recorded an RPL of 713 million won.

Jipyung's RPL was calculated at 493 million won. The firm has broadened its new revenue base by shifting to younger leadership, recruiting non-lawyer experts, strengthening interdepartmental collaboration under the "Legal and Beyond" initiative, and expanding demand-driven centers for areas such as maintaining public listing, management rights disputes, and climate energy. Barun's RPL was 430 million won, as the firm continued to compete in the mid-sized segment by expanding its advisory work in financial regulation, virtual assets, and overseas investment.