As December ends and January dawns, report cards on the legal profession are issued and crystal balls are studied. This year is no different with many articles offering assessments of the industry’s current state and its prospects.
Two pieces recently written about the industry’s present and the future are worth review. Mark A. Cohen’s Something’s
As staid and conservative lawyers and their profession may seem, it is undeniable that change is a part of their world. The change that has confronted the legal profession since the collapse of 2008 has garnered a lot of press, but lawyers and their firms have had to adjust to an altering world for a
Forbes’ article Cab Companies and Law Firms Are Taking the Same Route presents the provocative view that law firms face disruptive innovation similar to the kind experienced over the last eight years by cab companies. Ride sharing innovation through the likes of Uber, Lyft and others has undermined the once financially formidable cab business.
Superficial solutions to the long-term challenges law firms face are seldom lasting. The right answers only come through disciplined strategic thinking that projects beyond a looming horizon. Unfortunately, some thinking in the guise of being strategic is anything but. And for the law firms trying to position themselves past that horizon, misinterpreting motion for progress
Last week saw Vault.com release its 2017 survey of the best law firms to work for and O’Melveny and Myers is the new reigning champion. Among quality of life factors that matter to many of today’s associates, the firm scored first in satisfaction and honors, and placed second in firm culture, leadership transparency and substantive
The march of change and innovation in the legal services industry continues. Last week it was reported that Baker Hostetler has licensed “Ross” for its bankruptcy group. Baker Hostetler’s decision to use the Ross Intelligence artificial intelligence product to perform some of the basic functions traditionally the role of associates is innovative and signals change.
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP made its entry into the Houston legal market last week. It announced that it had attracted 15 Houston based attorneys from 6 firms to plant the Orrick flag in the Bayou City. Pulled from Andrews Kurth, DLA Piper, Haynes and Boone, McDermott Will & Emery, McGuire
Another year for law firms is in the books and the numbers, to state it mildly, do not signal a return to the pre-2008 halcyon days. Based on a report from the respected Georgetown Law Center for the Study of the Legal Profession, it appears that challenges to the legal profession continue and are
As staid and conservative lawyers and their profession may seem, it is undeniable that change is a part of their world. The change that has confronted the legal profession since the collapse of 2008 has garnered a lot of press, but lawyers and their firms have had to adjust to an altering world for a
Dentons and McKenna Long recently announced the intent to merge. Media reporting of the merger was substantial, including an April 8, 2015 article written by Sara Randazzo in The Wall Street Journal. In her Dentons, McKenna Long to Merge, Ms. Randazzo quoted Denton’s global chairman Joseph Andrew as stating, “[O]ur goal was not
