As more legal tasks become repeatable and partially automated, large law firms will begin to operate less like collections of individual artisans and more like production teams. Once that shift occurs, experience curves take over.
In an environment defined by increasing segmentation of the legal market, elevated competition for talent, rapid technological advancement, and shifting client expectations, law firms must resist the temptation to build strategies that are safe, short-term, and easily achievable. Incremental progress has its place, but it will not suffice in a market where the pace of change continues to accelerate. The firms that thrive in the next decade will be those that set bold, forward-looking goals and launch a plan to make progress against the goals.
How law firms choose what to prioritize (and what NOT to prioritize).
The firms that thrive will be those that face disruption head-on.
Further advances in profitability and partner pay will require firms to 1) more broadly implement client and matter profitability as performance management and compensation tools and 2) harness a broader range of profit levers.
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