It’s helpful in times like these for leadership teams to have a common understanding of what’s going on in the broader economy, its implications for law firm demand and a road map for how to tackle the difficult decisions ahead. The following offers such a framing.
Let’s start with the economy. We’ve entered a recession. We can think of it as ultimately having one of three shapes:
- V-shaped: workers stay home causing a dip in economic output; the dip is followed relatively quickly by a recovery in which workers put in overtime to make up for lost productivity; the economy regains its pre-dip trajectory in a matter of weeks.
- U-shaped: the above initial dip in economic output is accompanied by a decline in consumer demand reflecting, among other issues, a contraction in household wealth (home values, retirement assets, etc.); the policy makers take responsive fiscal and monetary measures and economic activity returns to pre-dip growth rate in a matter of months.
- L-shaped: the recession starts out as U-shaped, but the policy interventions prove ineffective and the dip is prolonged into quarters and years.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.
For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]
