Change in the Offing — In BigLaw Models and Diversity
November 30, 2009
These are tumultuous times for the nation’s largest law firms. The world around them is changing on many fronts and at a rapid pace. Adapt or perish should be their mantra. Two separate special reports published today — one from The American Lawyer surveying law firm leaders and another from The National Law Journal on women in the law — make this abundantly clear. For the American Lawyer survey, leaders of 142 of the Am Law 200 firms responded to a confidential questionnaire. The takeaway, writer Drew Combs reports, is that firms are still testing the waters of the financial crisis. The survey “shows an increased willingness among firms to implement a smorgasbord of short-term cost-cutting measures while pondering more fundamental changes.” Are they testing the waters or engaging in denial? The results could be read either way. While 56 percent of firm leaders say the current economic downturn has produced a fundamental shift in the legal marketplace, 70 percent of those same leaders say it has not produced a corresponding shift in their own firm’s business model. Two-thirds report optimism about 2010 and 81 percent will raise rates next year. “Lawyers are resilient,” Richard Cullen, chairman of McGuireWoods in…