Law firms today are under pressure to grow and evolve, through mergers, organic growth, and in response to client demands.
In our June Insight, we laid out the business case for innovation. We cited increasing client pressure to rethink operating models, a rise in substitutes for more traditional delivery of legal services, and a strategic opportunity to differentiate.
Succession planning appears to be one area where both law firms and corporations are underperforming.
While some law firms have reported strong financial results over the last several years, others have struggled to the point of instability. For many leaders we speak to, the most startling feature of these recent declines is how rapidly they seem to come about.
Partnership, or an equivalent, is the predominant form of organization for law firms large and small. It is a structure that made sense when even the largest firms were under 200 lawyers and were primarily single office operations.