July 2021

NY Remains Top Market For Partner, Counsel Promotions

While remote work has leveled the playing field for many up-and-coming young attorneys based outside major hubs, New York remains a hotspot for BigLaw partner and counsel promotions, largely driven by a recent boom in corporate work.  Paul Pearlman notes that a wave of newly minted New York partners is symptomatic of strong economic growth in the practice areas that are most prominent in the Big Apple, like finance, mergers and acquisitions, and capital markets transactions.  In reality, most firms, particularly firms in New York, have thrived during the pandemic, and for a lot of firms, one of the main keys to their success is the strength of their New York office.

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June 2021

Business Development Success: How a Big Law Event Series Led to 6,000 Guests

Marketing a law firm has been a challenging proposition during the pandemic, with offices closed and clients working in their homes. Some law firms have added entertaining relationship events to their marketing strategies, like wine tastings or book clubs over Zoom.  Arent Fox enlisted the help of two popular celebrities for interviews before a Zoom audience that included clients and potential clients.  Mary K Young observes that  many of these efforts were very successful. She notes that “if you’re going to do something that’s outside the practice of law, it’s best to totally focus on that and do it right, without trying to insert any legal substantive or marketing component.  Some people might object that it doesn’t have anything to do with the business of law, but that’s the point of events like this - law is a relationship business. These events bring people together.”

 

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July 2021

Law Firm Mergers Steady in First Half, But More to Come in 2021

Law firm mergers in the first half of 2021 were on par with last year, but there are signs of more activity to come over the next six months and into 2022, according to a new report. There have been a flurry of announcements of upcoming mergers, and several large law firms have announced potentially transformative deals that could reshape certain markets as competition becomes fiercer for talent and work. Kent Zimmermann observes that the benefits of scale are becoming clearer, like a higher profile and better performance on average for the larger, more profitable firms than the rest of the pack. And, in an exceptionally active talent market for both partners and associates, firms appreciate the benefit of having a larger profit pool to attract and retain the best talent.

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