Latest Articles

Following recent conversations with US law firm partners, the sense of optimism for 2010 continues to grow.  The year that began with significant layoffs for lawyers across the globe appears to be ending with some US law firms treating the down market as an opportunity to expand internationally.  We all know that firms such as Latham laid off over a 150 lawyers across their network but it is less well known that this year saw firms such as Ropes & Gray and Greenberg Traurig open in the City of London.   This is not to say that the hey day of the international markets is back but at least there are signs that US law firms are once again thinking about international options.

Some recruiters would have you believe that the legal world has somehow totally changed; that the recession will have such a lasting impact that lawyers, particularly partners at law firms, need to completely rethink their personal game plan. I personally do not believe this to be the case. Sure there will be some changes, the law and the business of law is constantly evolving. For example, maybe the job security that partners have previously enjoyed may have lessened, but the fundamental principles of operating a law firm remain largely unchanged. Sure, being a lawyer is being part of a profession but being a partner in a law firm is also about being and behaving like a business owner. Law firms know that their clients have suffered and many have taken steps such as lowering billing rates to accommodate. Business owners learn from downturns and as such, law firms across the world have been taught a thing or two from this recession and have taken innovative steps and countermeasures to attract new business and manage cashflow. That, in itself, does not mean that the fundamental premise on which managing partners or executive committees run a firm will change all that much. Having just returned from meeting with senior partners in firms in Singapore and Hong Kong, I am reminded of the necessity of the need to return to business "as usual". The consolidated message from each and every partner with whom I met was quite simple: 2009 was tough but there is cautious optimism for a return to doing business in 2010.