In-House Counsel

The Road Not Taken: Survey Says It's Time For Law Firms To Change Their Ways

Law firms that are able to change quickly and meet their clients’ business needs will be the ones with an advantage in the future.

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bonus money low bonuses poor empty pockets sad upset lawyer businessmanMaybe you’ve seen this article: “Too Many Lawyers, Not Enough Work.”  The title of the Altman Weil survey says it all, there isn’t enough work for all of us. The survey appears to have a corporate bias, so the findings may not hold true for smaller firms that specialize in areas like family law, criminal law, or trusts and estates, nor was any specific regional data provided.

Nonetheless, the survey states what those of us who have been around since the early aughts have noticed — things aren’t what they used to be. Even if, as an individual lawyer, you are plenty busy now, the overall atmosphere has changed. It’s always been competitive, but now things are competitive without a safety net.

Lucky us. We have a new survey telling us what we’ve known for years: there are too many lawyers. Another way to say there are too many lawyers is to say there isn’t enough work for lawyers. So what does this mean? Do the survey results change anything? Practically, no. The survey only confirms what we already know; it doesn’t give us any useful new information. But, the survey is a good reminder of the competitive industry in which we’ve elected to make our living.

As it relates to corporate law and transactional work, I know the pressures my department and I are under to reduce costs and increase efficiencies. Business as usual is no longer sustainable for many corporate clients’ needs. This is not a new concept, but where are the recommendations to change business as usual? Alternative fee arrangements can’t solve all the problems of the legal industry.    

Personally, what makes a difference for me is when my outside law firm makes my life easier. I don’t need the basics of a concept explained to me (unless I ask for it). When I ask for a short answer to a question, I don’t need a treatise on the matter. Ultimately, what I would love is for my outside law firms to help me help them remain a client. Show me how you are saving me money. Show me the initiatives your firm has implemented that make providing your legal services faster and cheaper than in the past year.

Lawyers tend to think their good work will speak for itself, but these days, competition for legal services is thick. Good work is the minimum. Corporate clients need more than just good work. We need our firms to be able to support us as team members in any necessary way. Many corporate legal departments are facing the same pressures of doing more with less. The unsaid part of doing more with less is that we also have to show that we have actually done more with less. That includes gathering data, like outside counsel spend, and comparing it to previous years. No matter how good a firm’s work product is, if the firm is more expensive than its peers and there aren’t compelling reasons to continue using the firm, we will be asked to justify our choice. Don’t put us in that position; make it easy for me to show how you are thinking creatively to save me money.

The legal industry is still changing to adapt to the realities of the marketplace. This may mean fewer employment opportunities at law firms, it may mean changes in billing requirements, and it may mean changes in how law firms collect and quantify their services to their clients from the billable hour. In any event, the world is changing. Law firms that are able to change quickly and meet their clients’ business needs along with their legal needs will be the ones with an advantage in the future.

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But we didn’t need a survey to tell us that.

Celeste Harrison Forst has practiced in small and mid-sized firms and is now in-house at a large manufacturing and technology company where she receives daily hugs from her colleagues. You can reach Celeste directly at C.harrisonforst@gmail.com.

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