“The only winners are the lawyers” – a common refrain when faced with an expensive dispute and, to date, circumstances have yet to disprove the maxim. While in times of economic crisis, the bankers slash bonuses and offload staff in their droves, while the lawyers revisit their insolvency manuals and sharpen up their litigating skills until the next upturn arrives and the deals roll again.
As a result, law firms have grown steadily over the past two decades with relatively little of the volatility that routinely strikes other sectors of the economy. In the past 10 years alone, the number of solicitors on the Law Society’s roll has grown from 91,000 to more than 134,000, an increase of 46%.
