White & Case
Top-10 global law firm advising on cross-border finance, M&A, and disputes.
On the record
Checkpoint: FY2026 Am Law results test whether the firm stays on pace for its $5B-by-2028 revenue target
The call
Revenue and partner profits keep climbing while the equity-partner ranks quietly shrink for a second straight year.
White & Case is a large international law firm that handles complex legal work for big clients across 45 offices worldwide. It is hard to replace because laws require licensed lawyers to sign off on deals and court papers, clients have trusted relationships built over decades, and the firm's global reach takes years to build. The real question for the next few years is whether the firm can keep its top partners happy: partner exits jumped in the past two years, which could signal people see better opportunities elsewhere or feel squeezed by how the money gets divided.
Why
01
AI pressure: Harvey AI and similar legal-AI drafting/review tools. AI speeds up due diligence and contract review, but partner sign-off and bar-admitted liability stay outside its reach. Could AI do the core job? Unlikely.
02
Bigger players: Big Four legal arms (Deloitte Legal, PwC Legal). Accounting giants keep expanding legal service lines, chasing the same corporate clients with lower-cost delivery models. Could a giant copy it? Probably.
03
What protects it. Only bar-admitted partners can sign off on deals and litigation, and decades-long client relationships travel with them, not with software.
What would change this call
White & Case 2026 Am Law revenue and equity-partner headcount, published spring 2027. Shows whether the 4.9% equity-partner attrition trend continues or reverses.
Whether White & Case reports 2026 revenue growth at or above the 8% 2025 rate. Tests if the firm stays on pace for its $5B-by-2028 target.
Public reports of partner moves from White & Case to Kirkland, Latham, or Gibson Dunn in 2026. Would confirm rival firms are pulling top talent and client relationships away.
Whether White & Case reports 2026 revenue growth at or above the 8% 2025 rate. Tests if the firm stays on pace for its $5B-by-2028 target.
Public reports of partner moves from White & Case to Kirkland, Latham, or Gibson Dunn in 2026. Would confirm rival firms are pulling top talent and client relationships away.
Key numbers
- 2025 revenue $3.59B, up ~8% YoY
- Profits per equity partner $4.41M, up 10%
- Equity partners down 4.9% to 332
Named risks
- Equity partner count fell 4.9% in 2025 after a 7% drop in 2024, narrowing the top of the pyramid.
- Revenue growth of 8% in 2025 trails top peers like Kirkland (19.9%) and Latham (18.6%).
- Discrimination and retaliation lawsuit filed March 2026, though voluntarily dismissed by plaintiff in June 2026.
- AI-driven compression of chargeable hours industrywide could pressure hourly billing model over time.
Rivals, as read in July 2026
| Rival | Direction | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Kirkland & Ellis | gaining on | 2025 revenue $10.556bn, up 19.9%, vs White & Case's 8% growth, reported 2026-04-15 |
| Latham & Watkins | gaining on | 2025 revenue $8.3bn, up 18.6%, outpacing White & Case's growth rate, 2026-04-15 |
| DLA Piper | contesting | 2025 revenue $4.58bn, ahead of White & Case's $3.6bn, per 2026-04-15 Am Law data |
| Skadden | contesting | 2025 revenue $4.07bn, close peer-tier competitor, 2026-04-15 |
Questions people ask
- Is White & Case profitable in 2026?
- Yes. For fiscal 2025, White & Case reported record profits per equity partner of $4.41 million, up 10% year over year, alongside net income of $1.5 billion, up 4.8%, on revenue of $3.6 billion, per results reported July 15, 2026.
- Could AI replace White & Case lawyers?
- No, not the core liability-bearing work. White & Case's moat rests on bar-admitted signature authority, courtroom advocacy, and cross-border regulatory judgment that AI cannot assume. The firm instead deploys AI tools like Atlas and Legora, launched October and December 2025, to compress commodity drafting and research.
- Is White & Case losing partners?
- Equity partner count fell 4.9% to 332 in 2025, following a 7% drop in 2024, per results reported July 15, 2026. Total partners overall dipped just 0.7% to 693, and the firm describes the equity-tier decline as normal churn rather than mass departures.
- Who is White & Case's biggest competitor?
- Kirkland & Ellis is the dominant rival, posting $10.556 billion in 2025 revenue, up 19.9%, versus White & Case's $3.6 billion, up about 8%, per Am Law 100 data reported April 15, 2026. Latham & Watkins ($8.3 billion, up 18.6%) is also outpacing White & Case's growth rate.
- Is White & Case a safe firm to join in 2026?
- The firm is growing, ranked 9th in the US and 10th globally by revenue with $3.6 billion in 2025 sales, up 8%, and added 45 new partners for 2026. A discrimination lawsuit filed March 2026 was voluntarily dismissed by the plaintiff in June 2026.
- Who owns White & Case?
- White & Case is a privately held limited liability partnership with no external investors, parent company, or public shares, structured as a New York-registered LLP and an English-law LLP plus affiliated entities. Heather McDevitt serves as Firm Chair, as of March 19, 2026 reporting.
Timeline
- 2026-07-23Advised Brookfield Renewable on $7 billion acquisition of Aypa Power
- 2026-07-17Announced relocation of Washington DC office to 1701 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
- 2026-07-15Reported FY2025 revenue of $3.6bn and record PEP of $4.41 million, up 10%
- 2026-06-08Hired five new US lateral partners as part of aggressive growth plan
- 2026-04-09Added over 25 lateral M&A partners globally in the prior year
- 2026-03-31Secured dismissal of securities fraud suit against Warner Bros. Discovery and its CEO/CFO
- 2026-03-19Reported record 2025 revenue of $3.59 billion, up roughly 8% year over year
- 2025-12-18Entered strategic partnership with Legora as primary legal AI platform
- 2025-12-10Launched proprietary generative AI chatbot Atlas firm wide
- 2025-10-16Elected 45 new partners effective January 1, 2026
Revision history
23 July 2026
First assessed. Hard to displace. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.
In the same band
Sources
- White & Case LLP (2026-07-22)
- White & Case Sees Revenue Hit Record $3.59B, Driven by New Strategic Plan (2026-03-19)
- White & Case revenue hits $3.6bn as PEP jumps 10% (2026-07-15)
- Leading Law Firms & Rankings
- White & Case advises Brookfield Renewable on $7 Billion Acquisition of Aypa Power (2026-07-23)
- White & Case secures complete dismissal of high-profile securities-fraud action (2026-03-31)
- White & Case Number of Employees 2026 (2026-06-29)
- White & Case elects 45 new partners for 2026 (2025-10-16)
- White & Case adds Jennifer Cheng as a partner in New York (2026-04-09)
- White & Case enters strategic partnership with Legora (2025-12-18)
- How White & Case's New Proprietary Chatbot Fits Into the Firm's Broader AI Strategy (2025-12-10)
- White & Case Posts $3.6 Billion Revenue as Profits Also Tick Up (2026-03-19)