Revenue and profits aren’t the only money metrics that came back to earth in 2022. Realization rates soared during the pandemic era, as law firms doubled down on financial hygiene in an attempt to stave off anticipated losses, then maintained that focus through what turned out to be a boom across the industry.

However, easy come, easy go. While certain subsets of the industry, including The Am Law 100, saw relatively flat realization, stalled deals and payment delays ultimately gave way to a decline in realization–about 1.5% across the industry last year, according to Citi’s Global Wealth at Work Law Firm Group, with the analysts calling it a return to “pre-pandemic levels.”