The following is an excerpt from an article from the Legal Times. Among the five big - "What will happen?" 's is (not surprisingly) - CAN COSTS BE CUT FURTHER?. It is interesting that most of the articles continue to mention outsourcing as a tanglible option but the legal industry is a slow moving beast. Lawyer's habits are hard to change. Yet the change is beckoning in the horizon.
Emma SchwartzLegal TimesJanuary 6, 2006
Mergers. Firm dissolutions. Associate salary hikes. Last year was anything but docile in the legal market. With ever-increasing competition among firms, 2006 looks to be equally challenging. With that in mind, here are five issues that could be -- or should be -- in the forefront of every managing partner's mind heading into the new year.
4. CAN COSTS BE CUT FURTHER?
Even as some firms continue to raise rates, they are still looking at other ways to hold down costs.
One development likely to escalate in the coming year: outsourcing.
Firms like Howrey have already tested the waters for some electronic discovery. And there may be opportunities to capitalize on India's inexpensive intellectual assets to offshore preliminary work on patent prosecutions.
But, says Bower, "There is not a lot of confidence yet in the quality of what is coming out."
Another option may be to pare down practice groups. Firms are starting to see a greater advantage in having a few practice areas with more depth and expertise, says Robert Ruyak, managing partner at Howrey. To achieve that goal, many firms are seeking to acquire specific practice groups, such as Ropes & Gray's acquisition of Fish & Neave's intellectual property group or Jones Day's buyout of IP firm Pennie & Edmonds.
But while Ruyak doesn't see Howrey moving toward a model of having just a handful of practice groups, he believes that as firms drop unwanted lawyers, it will "have the effect of making people available for other firms."
And other firms like Arent Fox still believe that by staying small they can give better service -- and rates -- with equal quality.
Friday, January 06, 2006
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Lawyer's habits are hard to change indeed, rightly said. Scepticism, suspicions prevail in their minds well enough to look at any offer or claim as straight forward or well meaning. legal profession some times leads to trauma in certain sympathetic and unfortunate cases and a traumatised mind cannot be expected to take things at face value.
Post a Comment