The Am Law 100: Signs of a Slowdown
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The country’s 100 largest law firms by revenue recorded a sixth consecutive year of aggregate growth across all key metrics in 2015, according to our exclusive Am Law 100 financial survey. But despite a record year for U.S. mergers and acquisitions, the continued flattening of demand for legal services and patchy conditions in core markets, particularly in Europe, saw growth slow to its lowest level since the Great Recession seven years ago.
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An Uncertain Future
For many Am Law 100 firms, the last fiscal year was a challenge. The bad news is that this performance is unlikely to be a one-off blip. U.S. economic growth slowed in the first quarter of 2016, raising fears of another recession. The continued slump in global oil prices and instability in Europe—a region to which many of the larger Am Law 100 firms are heavily exposed—are also contributing to widespread market uncertainty. Mergermarket data shows a 24 percent reduction in M&A deal activity in the first three months of the year, while there was not a single U.S. IPO in January—the first monthlong hiatus in over four years. The Am Law 100 faces a daunting year ahead.
Read more: www.americanlawyer.com/id=1202755430908/The-Am-Law-100-Signs-of-a-Slowdown#ixzz46sYx37if
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