Twenty-five years into the publication of The Am Law 100, what have we to show for the effort? We have helped move the economic landscape of the big-firm market from opaque to translucent. Big-firm lawyers and those who care about their work have information and a vocabulary to begin to assess the economic health of their institutions. They know now that while most of these firms appear similar, there are important differences in their success, a product not of pedigree as much as their client base, firm management, and focused effort. And they also know that despite some spectacular outliers and a drumbeat of know-nothing commentary, most of the lawyers at most of the firms who help us in this project tell us the truth.
The 100 effort hasn’t all been upside, of course. Information turned loose on any environment has the power to warp it, and law firms proved as susceptible as other human enterprises. Is there more talk now of commerce and earnings in the top echelon of a profession that once didn’t engage in such open banter? Yes. Does that make for a healthier marketplace? We think so. Does it mean that profit is the only value or measure by which a firm should measure itself? No. And lawyers and firms that operate as though it were have only themselves to blame for their choicesand their pernicious influence on lawyers at large.
