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Wake Up Big Law: Innovate Your Litigation Practice for the Future
A strong litigation practice can have a significant impact on a firm’s ability to compete effectively as well as drive revenue for the firm in all areas of practice. According to BTI Consulting’s Litigation Outlook 2020, the U.S. litigation market is poised for its...
Fuel Your New York Growth With Real Estate
Many firms seem to view real estate as secondary in importance after corporate and private equity work when looking to increase profitability. In New York City, however, it is a missed opportunity, and some Am Law firms are proving exactly that. The law firms, Holland...
Do You Trust Your Firm Chairman? Why It Matters More Than Ever in Lateral Hiring
As the Am Law 100 firms continue to show strong growth, individual firms are focusing on hiring as one of their top strategies for improving revenue and profitability. The recession hit law firms hard, resulting in over 8,000 job losses among the Am Law 100 firms....
Reconsidering Lateral Partner Moves After 60
This year’s new partner classes are advancing at a watershed moment in U.S. history: In 2019, U.S. Census data predict, Millennials will replace Baby Boomers as the biggest segment of the country’s population. In raw numbers, among big firm attorneys, Millennials now...
How to Win Work From NY’s Thriving Startup Sector: Three Proven Strategies
On February 4, when global research firm Savills released its Tech Cities in Motion survey results, it validated many law firms’ decisions in recent years to aggressively pursue New York’s technology-driven startup and investment sector. Among 30 cities worldwide,...
For Law Firms, a Deep Dive Into Private Equity Can Be Lucrative
If there’s a single practice sector that law firms should seek to grow in 2019, it’s deal work from middle-market private equity firms. Renowned for transforming lackluster companies into top performers ripe for a profitable spinoff or an IPO, private equity funds in...
The Myth Behind Lone Lateral Partner Losses
Anyone who works in the Big Law industry has probably heard the myth that lone lateral partner hires are a waste of law firms’ time and money. First, the legend goes, more than half of all laterals fail to meet their new firms’ expectations. Having promised more than...
When a Smaller Firm is the Smarter Choice
These days, among managing partners of Am Law 200 firms, it’s rare that a week goes by without receiving a merger or acquisition offer. Law firms announced a record-breaking 79 mergers and acquisitions in the first three quarters of 2018, according to Altman Weil's...
2018 and Beyond: A Radical Turnaround in Lateral Associate Hiring?
Among Big Law associates, 2018 should go down as a banner year. A majority of Am Law 200 firms adopted sweeping pay increases. Several firms continued last year’s positive trends, including expansion of gender-neutral parental leave policies as well as remote-work...
A Practice Plan of Your Own
Partners in leading law firms excel at guiding clients through business cycles and around the obstacles of corporate disputes, but when it comes to plotting their own careers, many never find the time. They’re so consumed with fulfilling the tasks at hand, and so...
Law Firm Overcapacity? Not in New York
“Equity partners are not busy enough at 51 percent of all law firms,” declares Altman Weil’s 2018 survey on the state of the legal market post-recession. It’s a stinging report, one that depicts a market glutted with “chronically underperforming lawyers” who siphon...
Succession
Ask partners in management at the nation’s leading law firms about what worries them most these days, and you won’t hear them express fears of a market downturn; they’re not losing sleep wondering when the current boom might bust, nor fretting about their strengths in...
“Let’s Stay in Touch:” The Long Game in Legal Recruiting
A few weeks ago, when I described to a colleague how I’d been talking with a partner for eight years before facilitating his move to a different firm, he was surprised. “Eight years?” he asked. “Isn’t that unusual?” Most legal recruiters would have replied with a...
Lateral Associates Gain Leverage From 2018 Pay Hikes
As Labor Day rolls around and first-year associates embark on their careers at AmLaw 200 firms, it’s an opportune time to reflect on how the salary and bonus increases triggered this summer by Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCoy and Cravath, Swaine & Moore will...
Law Firm Partner Options When You’re Not Ready to Retire
Two years ago, when Irell & Manella’s Morgan Chu hit 65, his partners were more than happy to make an exception to the firm’s mandatory retirement policy. After all, Chu's not just an uncontested giant in intellectual property and patent law; he’s also been...
How Law Firms Can Prepare for FinTech Wave
The world of financial services is being upended by new technologies—from virtual currencies and blockchain to peer-to-peer lending and enhanced mobile banking—that are capturing customers, as well as the attention of Wall Street investors and industry regulators....
Legal Recruiter Q&A: Job Seeker Advice from Keith Fall, Walker Associates
In our new series for Lawjobs.com, we’re asking legal recruiters for their insider tips about where the biggest job seeker opportunities are, and for advice on how candidates can best position themselves to get them. This Q&A is with Keith Fall of Walker...
In New York’s Start-Up Sector, Lawyers’ Opportunities Abound
Wall Street and Fortune 500 clients drive corporate business for most New York law firms, a completely understandable position given the city’s status as the world’s leading financial center. We would like to posit an alternate path for corporate lawyers and law firms...
Moving On To Greener Pastures: A Partner Checklist For Leaving Your Current Firm
As a legal recruiting firm, we are often asked to comment on legal issues that our candidates face during a transition. After all, we have seen a lot of placements and transitions over the years, and sometimes this seems like part of the job function. While we offer a...
For Junior Associates, an In-House Move May Not Be the Answer — At Least Not Yet
Let’s consider the following scenario: A young associate in her third year at an Am Law 200 firm receives an offer to take a job as an in-house lawyer…
Six Law Firm Practices That Will Thrive Under Trump
Change in Washington can be good – very good — for business at law firms, particularly if they bet on the right practices and talent to help their clients navigate new political realities.