Law firm transparency: It's the new black. And we welcome all its new adherents; they couldn't have arrived at a better time, only, perhaps, sooner. It's been a bit lonely here for the last 28 years, as we have worked at bringing some measure of sunshine—and its disinfectant effects—to an important marketplace that once was best described as opaque. But we must not kid ourselves. What we have before us is translucency, and it may be, despite all the efforts and protestations, the best for which we can hope.
This month we finish our annual report on the finances of The Am Law 200, the granddaddy of law firm financial reporting. As you may have heard, in February K&L Gates released its financial results to a hail of headlines lauding its efforts at, to use the cliché, opening its kimono. We applaud the increased disclosure, even as we note that it is not yet complete. More recently in a column on The Am Law Daily, blogger Steven Harper took us to task for publishing the average profits per partner of firms but not their spread. In a moment we will begin to remedy that flaw. Steps forward, surely, but transparency achieved? No.
