Personal Injury Law

Plaintiffs' Lawyers and Rainy Days

I read an interesting article in the Washington Post yesterday about the downfall of big Washington, D.C. law firm heavyweight Howrey, who closed its doors earlier this month. It is an unbelievably steep fall for a law firm that had $570 million in revenue in 2008.

In my heart, I really wished and wish this law firm and all of the people in it the very best. It's true, scout's honor. But every plaintiff's personal injury lawyer gets a little feeling of validation for their career path as news continued to percolate about the demise of big defense law firms.

But that validation got stopped in its tracks when I read this sentence:

Revenue in the litigation business tends to be lumpy. You get paid only when there is a case to be tried and then often only after the trial is over. Howrey, in particular, had come to rely increasingly on revenue from such contingency fee cases, which rose to $35 million in 2008 and then fell to $2 million a year later.

Quickly, I had to jump off my high horse. That's our business model.

Full post as published by Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog on March 21, 2011 (boomark / email).