Those of us who were active in the profession when The National Law Journal began in 1978 couldn’t have imagined the legal marketplace in 2012.
• A 100-lawyer firm was considered huge.
• Many firms were governed by partnership meeting.
• Office managers were just emerging; many were converted senior partner secretaries.
• Many lawyers didn’t keep time records.
• Few law firms had computers; most billing was manual.
• 1-to-1 secretary-to-lawyer ratios were the norm.
• Marketing was anathema, generally prohibited.
• Few lawyers billed more than $100 an hour.
• Associate starting salaries averaged $16,000.
• Communication was by post or telephone; fax and overnight delivery were just emerging.
• Corporate law departments were small, handling commodity work; in-house lawyers’ credentials lagged those of law firm lawyers.
• The great debate was whether law was a business or a profession, as though incompatible with each other.
