EY's Announcement That It Is Acquiring Riverview Law Could Accelerate the Pace of Change in the Legal Industry
There has been much talk in the past year that the Big Four were sniffing around the alternative legal services market looking for an acquisition. That wait is now over. Here is an analysis of how the acquisition may impact different sections of the legal market.
Law firms have bumped up starting salaries for associates at top firms over the past few years, prompting Big Law clients to raise a stink about outsized salaries for junior lawyers. But it turns out that this pay falls short of past peaks when inflation is taken into account.
There Is More Money Than Ever In the Hands of Litigation Financiers, But Can They Convince Law Firms to Use It?
Lawyer Counts Increased By 1%, But Large Firm Growth Was Slowed Due to Consolidation. Just Three of the Top Five Firms on the NLJ 500 Showed Total Lawyer Headcount Growth
Lawyers and accountants are professional allies, but who controls integration and delivery of their services is another story.
The Legal Department Is Savvier and Has More Options In the Form of ASPs and Legal Technology. It's Time for Law Firms to Embrace Change. AI Is a Key Ingredient In Doing So.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act made significant changes to certain Internal Revenue Code provisions dealing with highly compensated employees. Among these are restrictions (in the form of excise taxes) on compensation of certain highly paid employees of “applicable tax-exempt organizations.”
The Bottom Is Eventually Going to Drop on the U.S. Economy, and Many Law Firms Won't Be Positioned to Handle the Fallout
No economic expansion lasts forever. That's a hard-and-fast truth of macroeconomics, one that's on the minds of certain law firm leaders.
Raising Costs and Declining Demand are Sapping Profits
The “New Normal” of today is one in which raising operating costs, associate salary increases, and reduced realization rates coupled with AFAs and demands from corporate counsel for reduced rates are sapping firm profits and there is no relief on the horizon. Law firm leaders, seeing current conditions, should be asking if there is a better way.
Cash flow management can be particularly challenging. You need to account for the time lag between cash going out and cash coming in. This requires financial and management discipline, strong internal policies and procedures for billing and collection policies, planning and attention to detail.
