As COVID-19 started spreading across the U.S. in the spring of 2020, Kent Zimmermann says he and his colleagues at Zeughauser Group fielded a steady stream of calls from worried law firm leaders. Kent observes that firms at that time were facing a threat of unknown magnitudes; some feared they were facing an existential threat. But by late summer, firm leaders were much more positive in tone than those at the start of the public health crisis. Most managing partners and chairs, from small to large firms, were seeking advice about how to accelerate their growth and ensure long-term success.

Zeughauser Group's 2021 Pocket Guide to the American Lawyer Rankings of the Am Law 200 by Profits Per Equity Partner and by Value Per Lawyer; The A-List; The Global 100; The Global 200; The China 50; The Asia 50; and The Corporate Scorecard.

If you would like a hard copy of the 2021 ZGuide, please send an email to zgadmin@consultzg.com with "2021 ZGuide Request" in the subject line and provide your mailing address.

Mary K Young will moderate a panel discussion, sponsored by the Legal Marketing Association, to consider the future of the legal industry after the COVID recession. The industry has proven its resilience, adjusting to enormous change with agility and ending 2020 with healthy growth in revenue and profitability. The panel will consider what changes are expected over the next five years and beyond? And how will the industry be affected by investments in infrastructure, new competitive forces, climate change, growth in cyber threats, the demands for social justice and equity, changes in technology, world politics, and the global economy, among other developments? What lessons have been learned and how can they be applied in the future?

October 24, 2021

9:30 A.M to 10:30 A.M. EDT

For additional information, go to The Business of Law.

Many firms are requiring their personnel to get the COVID-19 vaccine, but they can't ask the same of clients. Meeting with unvaccinated clients is especially a concern for lawyers with young children. Reduced travel is likely to mitigate the need for a firm policy on travel to client sites. Mary K Young comments that in many parts of the country, it likely won’t be an issue. In most major cities, like New York, Chicago and San Francisco, law firms are requiring vaccinations and in those places, their clients probably will be doing the same.  There are certain cities in the southern United States where they never really closed down and pretended the virus doesn’t exist. Those could be problematic.  Young says the likely outcome is a continuation of low travel policies most firms now have in place.

Some law firms are now hesitant  to even impose a definite office return date, while more vaccine mandates are appearing among Sunbelt-based law firms.  Mary K Young observes that these firms are national firms and global firms. They have to be thinking not only about their Southern offices but all their offices.

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.

After the once-in-a-century inflection point of a global pandemic, the legal industry – and all of corporate America – faces another major transition as COVID-19 fades and the “new normal” sets in.  With offices reopening across the country, what lessons will the legal industry retain from the pandemic and what trends from the last 15 months will remain? Just as significantly, what will be the lasting legacy of a national racial reckoning that largely coincided with the worst global health crisis in generations?

These questions were the focus of a distinguished panel of current and former general counsel held on June 8, 2021. The remote gathering was moderated by John Corey, president & founding partner of Greentarget, and Mary K. Young.  And Alex Dimitrief participated as one of the panelists.  This article highlights some of the conversation.

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.”

Digital client communications soared during the pandemic. Building on a recent survey by Greentarget, Right Hat and Zeughauser Group, moderators John Corey and Mary K Young will ask a panel of three former and current in-house leaders, including Zeughauser Group partner Alex Dimitrief, to discuss the pros and cons of different approaches. They will tell us what breaks through the clutter and what they ignore, what they look for in law firm content and how they prefer it to be presented.

June 8 at 11:00 AM Eastern time

Register for the panel discussion at LMA In-House Counsel Program