Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges LLP has become the first law firm in L.A.’s history to have profits that exceed $2 million per partner.

Quinn Emanuel last year saw a whopping 24 percent increase in its partners’ profits from the previous year, to $2.4 million per partner.

Profits per partner, a standard way to measure law firm profitability, is the average pay an equity partner can expect to get. The profits are reported to the Business Journal as part of its annual list that ranks local law firms.

Quinn Emanuel was also No. 1 in profits per partner the previous year, although it landed just shy of the $2 million mark.

Much of Quinn Emanuel’s boost came from the other side of the country.

“Part of it is that our New York office has grown a lot, so we have more lawyers billing time,” said name partner Bill Urquhart.

“You have some of the most famous and prestigious firms in the world headquartered in New York, but their focus is somewhat different from ours,” said fellow name partner John Quinn.

Other New York lawyers, Quinn said, are generally less comfortable trying cases.

“They write great briefs and argue them well in court, but if they can’t get rid of a case before trial, they tend to settle,” he said. “We tend to attract people who don’t want to settle, so you get a double benefit from that: you get the benefit of being able to try and win a case but, you have the benefit of better settlements because they know you’ll take the case to trial.”

It was a strong year overall for L.A.-based law firms, five of which posted profits per partner above $1.5 million, compared to four a year ago.

Trailing Quinn were Latham & Watkins LLP with $1.86 million, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP at $1.75 million, O’Melveny & Myers LLP with $1.63 million and Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker LLP at $1.61 million.

The million-dollar club is also expanding. While seven of L.A.’s largest law firms posted profits-per-partner above $1 million in 2005, 14 were above that mark in 2006. It’s also important to note that some firms hold their profitability information until the summer, so the number is likely to go higher.

Law firm partners who are not yet equity partners generally can expect to be paid less than the profits-per-partner statistic. Most firms promote associates to partners after five to seven years, but it often takes several years more before the partners make contributions to the firm that are significant enough (usually at least $5 million in annual billings each) before they may be selected as equity partners. Top equity partners at these firms make much more than the average salary reported; new equity partners typically make less.