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State of the Legal Market – Rates and Realization
February 3, 2016
During 2015, law firms continued to raise their standard rates, though by a fairly modest 2.7 percent. This is reflected in Chart 5 below that shows rate growth across the market from Q1 2005 through November 2015. Although, as can be seen on the chart, the pace of rate increases has clearly slowed since the pre-recession period before 2008 (when rate increases of 6 percent a year were not uncommon), client pushback to such increases has continued to mount. This has resulted in plummeting realization rates...
February 3, 2016
During 2015, law firms continued to raise their standard rates, though by a fairly modest 2.7 percent. This is reflected in Chart 5 below that shows rate growth across the market from Q1 2005 through November 2015. Although, as can be seen on the chart, the pace of rate increases has clearly slowed since the pre-recession period before 2008 (when rate increases of 6 percent a year were not uncommon), client pushback to such increases has continued to mount. This has resulted in plummeting realization rates...
Report Touts Record-Breaking Year for Law Firm Mergers
February 3, 2016
A look back, and ahead, from legal consultancy Altman Weil.
February 3, 2016
A look back, and ahead, from legal consultancy Altman Weil.
Current State of the Legal Market – By the Numbers
February 2, 2016
In what is rapidly becoming the “new normal,” it appears that 2015 will go down as another overall lackluster year in terms of law firm financial performance. While the picture obviously differs from firm to firm – and a few firms achieved remarkably good results – in the main U.S. law firms continued to experience very sluggish growth in demand, coupled with negative growth in productivity, and continuing downward pressure on rates and realization. Indeed, there is now some evidence...
February 2, 2016
In what is rapidly becoming the “new normal,” it appears that 2015 will go down as another overall lackluster year in terms of law firm financial performance. While the picture obviously differs from firm to firm – and a few firms achieved remarkably good results – in the main U.S. law firms continued to experience very sluggish growth in demand, coupled with negative growth in productivity, and continuing downward pressure on rates and realization. Indeed, there is now some evidence...
2016 Georgetown Report on the State of the Legal Market
February 1, 2016
This story of the demise of Kodak is an important cautionary tale for law firms in the current market environment. Since 2008, the market for law firm services has changed in significant and permanent ways. Clients who previously deferred to their outside firms on virtually all key decisions regarding the organization, staffing, scheduling, and pricing of legal matters are now, in most cases, in active control of all of those decisions. Increasingly, clients are demanding more “value” in return...
February 1, 2016
This story of the demise of Kodak is an important cautionary tale for law firms in the current market environment. Since 2008, the market for law firm services has changed in significant and permanent ways. Clients who previously deferred to their outside firms on virtually all key decisions regarding the organization, staffing, scheduling, and pricing of legal matters are now, in most cases, in active control of all of those decisions. Increasingly, clients are demanding more “value” in return...
Wave of Law Firm Pair-Ups Set to Continue in 2016
February 1, 2016
Last year saw US law firms joining forces at a rate never before recorded. According to a new report from Altman Weil MergerLine, that trend is expected to continue well into the new year. The latest MergerLine report shwoed 2015 to have been a record breaking year for law firm combinations in the US, both in terms of the number of join-ups and their size. A total of 91 law firm combinations were recorded over the 12 months to 31 December, eclipsing the previous record set in 2013 of 88. Dentons...
February 1, 2016
Last year saw US law firms joining forces at a rate never before recorded. According to a new report from Altman Weil MergerLine, that trend is expected to continue well into the new year. The latest MergerLine report shwoed 2015 to have been a record breaking year for law firm combinations in the US, both in terms of the number of join-ups and their size. A total of 91 law firm combinations were recorded over the 12 months to 31 December, eclipsing the previous record set in 2013 of 88. Dentons...
Thomson Reuters Offers Glimpse of New AI Product Using IBM’s Watson
January 30, 2016
At what was billed as an Innovation Summit in its Times Square headquarters yesterday, Thomson Reuters Legal briefed journalists,...
January 30, 2016
At what was billed as an Innovation Summit in its Times Square headquarters yesterday, Thomson Reuters Legal briefed journalists,...
2016 Georgetown Report on the State of the Legal Market
January 29, 2016
Law firm leaders need to make bold, proactive changes in how legal services are delivered if firms are to thrive in the rapidly changing legal marketplace. That is among the findings of the “2016 Report on the State of the Legal Market” just issued by the Center for the Study of the Legal Profession at Georgetown University Law Center and Thomson Reuters Peer Monitor. Two thousand fifteen saw a sixth consecutive year of largely flat demand, weakening pricing power and falling productivity....
January 29, 2016
Law firm leaders need to make bold, proactive changes in how legal services are delivered if firms are to thrive in the rapidly changing legal marketplace. That is among the findings of the “2016 Report on the State of the Legal Market” just issued by the Center for the Study of the Legal Profession at Georgetown University Law Center and Thomson Reuters Peer Monitor. Two thousand fifteen saw a sixth consecutive year of largely flat demand, weakening pricing power and falling productivity....
Law Firms Resting on Their Laurels, Report Suggests
January 29, 2016
The 2016 Report on the State of the Legal Market from Georgetown University has warned law firms against the 'danger of success',...
January 29, 2016
The 2016 Report on the State of the Legal Market from Georgetown University has warned law firms against the 'danger of success',...
Law Schools Have Shed 1,206 Full-Time Faculty Since 2010
January 24, 2016
Matt Leichter has published the 2015 edition of his Which Law Schools Are Shedding Full-Time Faculty? Law schools have shed 1,206 full-time faculty (13.3%) since 2010, and 249 full-time faculty (3.1%) since last year. 142 law schools have shed full-time faculty since 2010, with 21 law schools shedding 20 or more full-time faculty:
January 24, 2016
Matt Leichter has published the 2015 edition of his Which Law Schools Are Shedding Full-Time Faculty? Law schools have shed 1,206 full-time faculty (13.3%) since 2010, and 249 full-time faculty (3.1%) since last year. 142 law schools have shed full-time faculty since 2010, with 21 law schools shedding 20 or more full-time faculty:
Symposium On Law School Survival
January 23, 2016
Michele R. Pistone (Villanova) & John J. Hoeffner, No Path But One: Law School Survival in an Age of Disruptive Technology, 59 Wayne L. Rev. 193 (2013) Mark Strasser (Capital), Tenure, Financial Exigency, and the Future of American Law Schools, 59 Wayne L. Rev. 269 (2013) Elizabeth M. Bloom (New England), Teaching Law Students to Teach Themselves: Using Lessons From Educational Psychology to Shape Self-Regulated Learners, 59 Wayne L. Rev. 311 (2013) Katie Rose Guest Pryal (North Carolina),...
January 23, 2016
Michele R. Pistone (Villanova) & John J. Hoeffner, No Path But One: Law School Survival in an Age of Disruptive Technology, 59 Wayne L. Rev. 193 (2013) Mark Strasser (Capital), Tenure, Financial Exigency, and the Future of American Law Schools, 59 Wayne L. Rev. 269 (2013) Elizabeth M. Bloom (New England), Teaching Law Students to Teach Themselves: Using Lessons From Educational Psychology to Shape Self-Regulated Learners, 59 Wayne L. Rev. 311 (2013) Katie Rose Guest Pryal (North Carolina),...
