A year ago, 60 percent of respondents to The American Lawyer ‘s annual survey of Am Law 200 firm leaders said that the economic downturn had produced “a fundamental shift in the legal marketplace.” So far, it hasn’t happened. The leveraged pyramid is alive and well, and average profits per equity partner have roared back to surpass pre–Great Recession records.
The surviving (indeed, thriving) big-law business model helps to explain why the shift that managers now expect, as outlined in the results of this year’s survey, is physical—namely, partners playing musical chairs across firms. Unfortunately, the predicted phenomenon illustrates a persistent case of lessons not learned.
