Legal Commentary

To Be Blind To Changes In the Legal Profession

By Patrick J. Lamb

From AmLaw Daily:

 We used our annual survey of the heads of The Am Law 200 to ask questions about the changes they're seeing; 142 responded. . . . More than half the law firm heads report seeing a "fundamental shift" in the legal marketplace; only a quarter said they didn't.

This result is staggering.  Not because of the significance of the fundamental shift in the marketplace.  But what does it mean that 25% of the leaders of the largest law firms in the country do not see that which is patent?  Can there be a more sweeping indictment of the leadership in those firms?

The same article reports on the fundamental shift in client relationships, citing Microsoft's termination of its relationship with K & L Gates (and, yes, the Gates in the firm is related to the Gates in Microsoft) and reporting data on the number of corporate counsel who terminated firms in 2009. 

For those leaders who responded that they didn't smell the coffee, er, see a fundamental shift in the marketplace, the data on on the law firm terminations should be profoundly troubling. 

Full post as published by In Search of Perfect Client Service on November 30, 2009 (boomark / email).