Legal News

The Law Blog Law-Firm Theme of the Day: Hunger

By Ashby Jones

Let’s turn our attention to BigLaw for a minute. If there’s a theme that’s emerged from today’s BigLaw articles, it’s hunger. In these lean times, hungry firms are looking to gobble up weaker ones, while aspiring lawyers are eager to take on responsibility in the hope of proving themselves in an era of downsizing.

Let’s look first at Nathan Koppel’s article in today’s WSJ. He writes that while the economic downturn has forced many law firms to downsize, “a smaller group is on the prowl, looking to expand even as their earnings are falling.” Heads of these firms “figure that being bigger and more geographically diverse will help them weather downturns in particular market sectors and capitalize on complex business opportunities that require a variety of specialties.”

Cases in point: Orrick, Herrington and K&L Gates. On Thursday, Orrick will announce it is hiring at least 27 Heller partners. “We have a long-term growth strategy, and we try to act on that and not to overdose on short-term economic results,” says firm chair Ralph Baxter. K&L Gates has acquired medium-size firms in Texas and North Carolina this year and hired 45 partners from other firms. “We have no debt — no long-term debt, no short-term debt — and therefore have a balance sheet that allows us to grow aggressively into a downturn,” says Peter Kalis, the firm’s chair.

And in the American Lawyer today, Susan Hansen reports that this year’s crop of summer associates actually . . . [pause while we choke on our coffee] . . . wanted more out of their 12-week experiences than mojitos, lunches at Per Se and $3000 weekly paychecks. They wanted work, real work, partly, it seems, out of fear that they wouldn’t get offers to come back.

Writes Hansen: The “best-of-show firms offered a straightforward preview of what law firm life (at its best) is really like. They took care to give their summer charges clear training and guidance, along with an array of interesting, challenging assignments.”

Photo: iStockPhoto

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on October 09, 2008 (boomark / email).