Optimism in the Face of the Recession
I got this on Monday:
-----Original Message-----
From: CNN Breaking News
-- The U.S. entered a recession in December 2007, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research.
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Leave it to the government to tell us something we've known for a year. On the bright side, a new ALM Law Firm Leaders Survey 2008 shows glimmers of optimism:
| Looking ahead to 2009, with respect to your law firm, you are: | Percentage |
| Optimistic | 38% |
| How do you expect the deal flow in 2009 to compare with 2008? | Percentage |
| Increase | 29% |
| In which practice area do you expect to see the most revenue growth in 2009? | Percentage |
| Litigation | 42% |
| What will you do with billing rates for 2009? | Percentage |
| Increase them by more than 5 percent | 35% |
| In light of forecasts of flat or reduced profits per partner for the Am Law 200, how would you characterize the morale among the partners at your firm? | Percentage |
| Somewhat optimistic | 41% |
My friend Bob Weiss of Alyn-Weiss & Associates, Inc.® in Denver, CO, just wrote me, "We tend to represent regional-local firms of less than 100 lawyers— all of our clients of this size, while concerned about next year, will have record revenue-profitability in 2008. More than half are hiring and actively seeking laterals, particularly for IP disputes, to lesser degree for IP prosecution/registration. The more you get to the middle of the country, it seems, the better the results for 2008."
