$1.4 Billion Forgiven PPP Loans Paid To Wealthiest Law And Accounting Firms

 Bottom Line

• 126 of the top 300 largest law firms in the country received $808.9 million in forgiven PPP loans - $6.5 million per firm on average.
• Boies Schiller Flexner, a law firm that billed clients $480 million during the pandemic years 2020-2021, received the largest PPP loan, $10.14 million
• The Guam office of Ernest & Young, a Big Three accounting firm with 365,000 employees, took a $750,000 forgiven loan
• Congress made the loans available and BigLaw cashed the Covid-aid checks
• Many racked up record revenues while their equity partners made millions of dollars

Other top 300 law firms used the PPP proceeds for more than just payroll

• Office rent
• Utilities
• Healthcare
• Mortgages
• None of these firms responded to requests for context.
• All figures are reported as being as of June 30, 2021.

237 firms received $635 million

• 237 received PPP loans
• Ernst and Young (Big Three accounting firm with 365,000 employees and $45 billion in gross revenue)
• E&Y has more than 700 office locations in over 150 countries and its net revenue has steadily increased during the pandemic, reporting $17.6 billion in net revenue in 2021, up from $16.2 billion in 2020, $15.8 billion in 2019.
• Prager Metis CPAs, ranked 45 among top law firms by Inside Public Accounting, had its $10.2 million loan forgiven in June 2022
• Marcum LLP, ranked #16 among top firms, absorbed Friedman LLP in September 2022, resulting in a $9.4 million loan that was forgiven in October 2021
• WithumSmith + Brown, P.C., ranked #22, received a $10 million loan for the same reason as Marcum
• Schneider Downs & Co. Inc
• Received a $8.9 million loan in June 2021

Background

• In 2017, the Small Business Administration (SBA) doled out $787 billion in federal loans across all industries
• 95-percent of the loans were forgiven when firms qualified for forgiveness
• 25,000 law firms and accounting firms received nearly $13 billion in Covid-aid PPP forgiven loans

SOURCES

• Am Law 200: By the numbers (2021)
• National Law Journal: The NLJ 500
• Published June 2022
• IPA Top 500 Firms
• 2021 Accounting Today Top 100 Firms.
• 2020 accounting today Top 100 firms
• Small Business Administration (SBA) PPP loan data (current through September 30, 2021)

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