Dispatches from a legal profession on the brink
Filed under: Management, Recession, Research
That sound you hear is the rapidly accelerating crash of dominoes. The mainstream legal media is tracking, body blow by body blow, the shocking personnel reductions taking place at law firms throughout the US and UK. One after another, firms are laying off employees, and it seems each firm’s announcement gives three others the confidence… Read more »
Filed under: Law School
One of the signs that change is underway in the legal profession is that elephants in the room are becoming easier to talk about. One such pachyderm is growing increasingly obvious in legal education: the disconnect between what prospective law students imagine about the profession and what they eventually find when entering the legal workforce…. Read more »
“[F]irms still have too many lawyers,” says the Chicago Tribune in the course of a rather grim 2009 forecast for American law firms. That might not be a problem for too much longer, because we’re about due for another round of bloodletting. But the next stage of the inexorable rationalization of the private bar won’t… Read more »
I’m currently taking part in an intriguing conversation at Legal OnRamp about the reasons why GCs hire prestigious, big-name law firms. A recurring theme in the discussion is that in-house lawyers often default to using big, well-known (and often highly inefficient) firms because of the protection these firms’ prestige affords to corporate counsel. Just as… Read more »
Filed under: Big Firms, Billing, Innovation
I grew up in a small city of about 80,000 and went to law school in a similarly sized town, so my first experience of a major metropolitan center was when I began working in downtown Toronto. I remember being a little overwhelmed by the massive bank towers in the financial district — not a… Read more »
Filed under: Globalization, Outsourcing
The symmetry was remarkable. Magic Circle icon Clifford Chance caused major waves in the mainstream legal media this week by announcing plans to cut up to 80 lawyers from its flagship London office, about 10% of the legal professionals there. The move, following layoff notices issued to 20 litigation associates in CC’s New York office… Read more »
Filed under: Law21
I don’t have any other words for it — I’m honoured and humbled that Law21 received the Best Canadian Law Blog Award, and tied (with David Bilinsky’s marvellous Thoughtful Legal Management) for the Practice Management Award, in the 2008 edition of Steve Matthews‘ CLawBie Awards for Canadian legal blogging. It’s just a huge compliment when… Read more »
Filed under: Innovation
Thacher Proffitt & Wood, a 160-year-old US law firm established the same year The Communist Manifesto was published, the Second French Republic was founded and Wyatt Earp was born, will close its doors tomorrow. Following failed merger talks with Spalding & King, Thacher Proffitt arranged for 100 of its lawyers, including its managing partner, to… Read more »
Filed under: Law21
I was preparing what I figured would be my last post before Christmas, a thank-you card to everyone who reads and has linked to this blog since its inception in January. But then along came another reason to be grateful and another person whom I want to thank. Dennis Kennedy has released his 2008 Best… Read more »
Filed under: Big Firms, Law School, Publishing
I don’t think Detroit’s automakers scored a $17 billion care package from the White House because anyone seriously thinks the cash will staunch the gaping holes in their business models and turn them into American Toyotas. More likely, the US government feared a massive ripple effect throughout the faltering wider economy if even Chrysler went… Read more »
