This article appeared in Accounting and Financial Planning for Law Firms, an ALM/Law Journal Newsletters publication covering all financial aspects of managing law firms, including: building a law firm budget; rates and rate arrangements with clients; coordinating benefits for law firm partners; and the newest strategies to grow your firm and your career.

We are now awash in predictions of an impending economic downturn. Economists are predicting that sometime in 2020, the current boom will end. A boom that after 10 long years has returned the AmLaw averages to their inflation-adjusted 2008 numbers.