A hiring spree during recent years left many firms overstaffed.  Citing economic headwinds and slowing demand, some large law firms are tightening their belts, shrinking their attorney ranks and eliminating professional staff.  The decline in demand for legal work last year followed years of growth driven by a boom in mergers-and-acquisitions work, prompting hiring sprees accompanied by six-figure bonuses for even lower-level attorneys.  Peter Zeughauser observes that the demand for legal work “has fallen off the cliff.  The firms that were really red hot and significantly over-hired are the first movers to lay people off.”

Greentarget and Zeughauser Group’s latest State of Digital & Content Marketing Survey — our first in three years — revealed that clients of professional services firms see diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) as a key business priority.

Mary K Young writes about the process of law firm mergers, the growing urge for firms to combine, the sensitivity around post-merger firm names, and retaining brand equity.

While international partner promotions were essentially flat from 2021 to 2022 among Am Law 100 firms, some U.S. firms have nonetheless chosen to invest heavily in their global talent. The message from those firms has been clear: Global markets and international talent matter. Mary K Young comments on the rise in international promotions this year and how promotions may relate to each firm’s individual strategy.

Mary K Young, along with John Corey and Betsy Coag, will discuss a recent survey of consumption behaviors, attitudes, and preferences of in-house counsel and executive decision makers.  This research pairs client consumption behaviors with practical guidance for law firms and professional service providers on how to break through to these difficult-to-reach audiences.  The session will provide an opportunity to learn about the content formats, platforms, and channels that clients frequent and value most, to understand the top reasons content “misses” for clients, and to decode what clients are really looking for in terms of DEI-focused content.

12:00 p.m. CT,  November 15, 2022

For additional details and registration information, visit 2022 Survey

Mary K Young will moderate a discussion regarding law firm industry team alignment transformations.  The panel will consider the process of realigning practice groups to focus less on “services” and more on industries – including related marketing reorientation

The panel will explore:

• What drives the move to an industry alignment?
• Challenges to getting buy-in from senior partners and practice group leaders.
• Metrics for success. How do you judge that an industry focus is actually working?
• The industry marketing mindset and how it supercharges the concept of cross-marketing.
• Considerations for reorienting and redeveloping marketing materials and focus to speak to target industries.

The session, sponsored by the LMA Mid-Atlantic Region, will be held on Zoom on May 12, 2022, at 12:00 pm EDT.

For more information and to register, visit Industry Team Transformation Insights.

Small and regional law firms are looking to mergers to ward off competition from larger rivals, as a new tie-up in Virginia shows. Woods Rogers and Vandeventer Black are merging to create a regional firm of 130 lawyers in five Virginia offices.

The merger reflects an uptick in interest in combinations after the Covid-19 pandemic slowed the pace of tie-ups. Kent Zimmermann notes that multiple Am Law 50 firms are talking to each other about merging, as are many Am Law 100 and 200 firms. “Our merger practice is busier than it’s been in 20 years by about four times,” Zimmermann said. “As a large group of firms have grown extensively and gotten more profitable, their historic peers don’t want to be left behind and want to hit the accelerator on growth.”

Law firm managing partners should take note: the Big Four are still a big threat. While the Big Four accounting firms seem perpetually mired in allegations of botched, biased or influenced audits, such accusations will do little to stop these firms from offering legal services and taking an increasingly larger slice of the pie from law firms. Law firm managing partners should take note. Mary K Young notes that because the Big Four and other accounting firms have strong, long-term relationships with many of the same clients that law firms are hoping to serve, the Big Four has opportunities to provide legal services simply by virtue of the fact they already have the relationships. She explains that law firms, in a bid to expand their service offerings, aim to deepen their relationships with the client by adding value. But the areas in which law firms are trying to add value often rub up against areas in which accounting and consulting firms excel.

Law firm leaders are keen to compare their results to those of other firms, but that can be a challenge in a segmented market. Mobility-minded lawyers might pay extra attention to the profits per equity partner figures and start to wonder whether they could make more at another. Similarly, some law firm leaders are tempted to compare their metrics with those of other firms. Mary K Young observes that firms that aren’t keeping pace with a growing market will face significant consequences with talent, and the challenge for midsize law firms is to understand the markets and the source of competitive advantage.

Peter Zeughauser joins a panel in Corporate Counsel Business Journal's daily podcast, In House Warrior, to discuss Western investment and expansion in China. In this powerhouse interview, they discuss the state of the Chinese economy and the state of China-U.S. relations; state-owned enterprises; the Chinese government’s increasing investments in strategic industries; “Common Prosperity” to close the wealth gap; the impact of Covid on Chinese capital markets and much more.