Editor’s note: Earlier this year, Vivia Chen — a reporter with The American Lawyer, a National Law Journal affiliate — launched The Careerist, a blog that takes a provocative inside look at how lawyers shape their careers and manage their lives. We asked Chen for her predictions on the state of lawyering in the year ahead.
Hey, wasn’t 2010 supposed to be the year of reckoning for the legal industry? Chastened by the economic downturn, big-firm partners were practically on their knees just a year ago, swearing to clients — and anyone else who’d listen — that they’d change their antiquated, prodigal ways. Remember that mantra of efficiency and rationality they were all chanting?
