The National Law Journal recently conducted a roundtable with 3 managing partners at large DC-based firms. They talked about staffing, rates, client demands, lateral recruiting, the political landscape and the future of the legal business model. A summary of the discussion appears here.
You should read the whole thing, but a few highlights:
- IP litigation was unexpectedly slow in 2010, but is expected to increase in 2011
- things have stabilized, but not likely to get significantly better in 2011
- the expected increase in the government regulatory area did not materialize and the results of the mid-term elections suggest that it may never materialize
- no one is expecting layoffs and salaries and bonuses have been — and are expected to continue to be — unfrozen
- clients are expected to continue exerting pricing pressures; the billable hour will not disappear, but the use of alternative fee arrangements will continue to increase
- we can expect to see a continuing of the trend of increased merger activity and lateral movement by partners and practice groups to competitors