Law Firms Resting on Their Laurels, Report Suggests
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The 2016 Report on the State of the Legal Market from Georgetown University has warned law firms against the ‘danger of success’, suggesting that past wins may be stagnating future growth potential unless firms embrace change.
Recalling the demise of once-mighty photography empire Kodak, the latest report from Georgetown’s Centre for the Study of the Legal Profession has suggested that law firms are exhibiting a similar unwillingness to embrace much needed overhauls of management and growth strategy. ‘The market for law firm services has changed in significant and permanent ways,’ argues the report, citing important shifts in power between companies and their outside counsel. Where firms were once largely autonomous in setting the terms of their engagement with clients, Georgetown researchers suggest that a ‘buyer’s market’ has now emerged in which greater emphasis is placed on service, efficiency and value for the client. Rather than responding proactively to changing client expectations, however, firm partners are continuing to rely on the ‘tried and tested’ success of past management and operational models. A cautionary tale for the legal market, the report warns that it’s only a short step from unresponsive to dead for firms in an evolving industry.
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