Law firm partnership structures, once considered sacrosanct, are changing. Law.com International editor-in-chief Paul Hodkinson addressed this reality in a recent Law.com International article about failed and problematic IPOs by law firms.
Although these failures could be seen as evidence that law firms should not do what virtually every other type of business does routinely—offer equity to outsiders—these bumpy law firm IPOs merely affirm that, as in any other industry, law firms that decide to go down the IPO path should do their due diligence before proceeding with any deal.
