It’s been awhile since we’ve posted. Among the reasons we’ve been silent is that the financial picture for law firms generally had not seemed to change all that drastically over the last several months. It’s been largely flat for quite awhile. However, we recently came across some modestly positive news and thought we’d share it. […]
A Positive 3rd Quarter Report for Law Firms
2013 Shaping Up To Be Not-So-Great Year for BigLaw
Patrick Lamb, writing for the ABA Journal’s the “New Normal” series, parses three recent law firm financial reports that came out this week. He concludes: “Clients paid for fewer hours and spent less overall during the first 9 months of 2013 than they did in 2012, which was a down year itself.” You should […]
BigLaw Firm Leaders Less Optimistic This Quarter
At least that’s what a recent poll from Citi Private Bank’s Law Firm Group suggests. Interviewed by the American Lawyer, Group CEO Dan DiPietro says that the results reflect “a growing understanding that what the environment was the last couple years will probably be the environment we’re stuck with for the foreseeable future.” The bank surveyed 72 firms (27 Am […]
More Litigation Work Expected for Biglaw in 2014
Via the blog of legal business consulting firm Hildebrandt comes this report that most in-house counsel are expecting litigation work to double in 2014. The source is BTI Consulting Group’s Litigation Outlook 2014. The bad news, as Hildebrandt puts it, is that: “thanks to cost-containment measures such as early case assessment (ECA), alternative fee arrangements and […]
Private Sector Legal Market Remains Flat
We regularly post information about reports on the financial condition of the legal market. The latest comes from Citi Private Bank and is reported in the Am Law Daily. It deals with results from the first half of 2013 and the news is not great. There was a bit of revenue growth during this period […]
On the Art of Networking
Couple of interesting nuggests in this posting on the Lawyerist entitled “The Secrets of Mingling At Legal Events.”
For Many CA Firms, 2012 Turned Out Better Than Expected Financially
A recent article in the Recorder, SF’s legal newspaper, reports on CA firm financials for 2012. While revenue gains were modest, many firms noticeably increased their profits. The article attributes the increase partly to expense cutting, but mainly to reduced headcount, particularly among firm partnership ranks. The increases experienced by firms whose biggest offices are in Silicon […]
Looking Back: Law Firms Experienced Only Modest Growth in 2012; Looking Ahead: More of the Same
Thomson Reuters Peer Monitor — in conjunction with Georgetown University Law Center’s Center on the Study of the Legal Profession — recently issued its annual report on the legal market, which you can find here. Some highlights of 2012: growth in demand for legal services up by a mere .5% the number of lawyers increased by 2% […]
Geographic Regions With Fastest Growing Professional, Scientific and Technical Services Sectors
Urban Studies expert Joel Kotkin discusses a list of the metropolitan areas with the fastest growth rates for high-wage sectors in : The Cities Winning The Battle For The Fastest Growing High-Wage Sector In The U.S. He notes Chicago’s absence from the top 10 as well as “the big metropolitan areas of the Northeast and California that […]
3rd Quarter 2012 Update on the Large Law Firm Market
Those of you who follow our blog, know that we regularly share with you the results of law business consultant Hildebrandt’s quarterly reports on the state of the large law firm market. Their report for the third quarter of 2012 (ending September 30th) is now out. Like the last report (for Q 2), it’s not […]