Editor’s note: Michael Trotter, who has worked for two big firms, founded two firms and now works for the new-model firm Taylor English Duma, is a keen analyst of the economics of law practice.
Trotter wrote his first history of the legal profession in 1997, “Profit and the Practice of Law,” warning that Big Law had shifted from a profession to a profit-driven industry. His 2012 follow-up, “Declining Prospects,” cautioned that this economic model was not sustainable and predicted some big firms would get squeezed out by expanded corporate law departments and more affordable midsize firms.
