Legal Commentary

Innovation During The Downturn? A Followup

By Patrick J. Lamb

I recently wrote about whether BigLaw would take the opportunity provided by the economic downturn to change their fundamental business model. Yesterday, I ran across an article in law.com suggesting change may be occurring.  Tough Times For Law Firms, Lawyers May Be Catalyst For Positive Change posits the theory law firms are changing because they are changing the way they hire and the starting salaries for new associates.  Written from the perspective of a legal recruiter, the article misses the mark.   The change addressed in this article is peripheral at best. BigLaw firms are about the partners, not the associates.  Clients are really secondary, necessary evils needed to bring in money.  Associates are overhead. 

Here is the benchmark by which one will be able to judge whether real change is occurring in the legal profession.  When firms abandon leverage in favor of efficiency and quality, change will have occurred.  When the focus is on providing materially greater value at materially lower costs, real change will have occurred.  When the focus is on winning (however a client defines that objective) instead of body count, real change will have occurred. 

We aren't there.  We may never be.

Full post as published by In Search of Perfect Client Service on April 07, 2009 (boomark / email).