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WHAT WE’RE WATCHING
PARTNER PROFITABILITY PRESSURE - Contrary to what that guy from high school kept predicting on Facebook, COVID-19 did not magically disappear after Joe Biden was elected president. What’s more, it seems as if it might even hang around after Inauguration Day. With that in mind, law firms are continuing to be cost-conscious. As the year progresses, however, finding savings will be harder to do than it was last year, when the pandemic abruptly derailed life as we knew it and forced firms to make sometimes severe staff cuts while also putting typical expenses like travel and client entertainment on ice. In this week’s Law.com Trendspotter column, we look at how internal budgetary pressures and potential client pushback on significant rate increases may force more firms to get tough with partners—even rainmakers—who have grown accustomed to operating inefficiently.
