Declining Prospects: How Extraordinary Competition and Compensation Are Changing America's Major Law

"Declining Prospects," written by a leading expert on law firm economics and operations, describes the dramatic growth and change in many major American law firms in recent years, analyses their prospects for continued profitability and sustainability, and focuses on the vulnerabilities of many important firms manifested most recently by the collapse of Dewey & LeBoeuf. The book explains why and how such growth and change has come about including 1) greatly increased competition for available legal work resulting from the ubiquity of highly capable corporate law departments and a surplus of talented lawyers and law firms, 2) client resistance to the increasing costs of legal services, 3) the commoditization of many legal services and the impact of new technology on the delivery of those services, and 4) the unsettling impact of the profession's "unlimited free agency" system that enables lawyers with substantial client relationships to move from firm to firm seeking higher compensation. Michael Trotter also comments tellingly on working conditions and the quality of life experienced by lawyers in today's major law firms. His observations throughout are supported by an abundance of facts and figures relevant to the topics considered. "Declining Prospects" will be of great interest to all lawyers, as well as to business executives interested in containing the costs of their legal services and anyone interested in the life of lawyers in the major American law firms or the role of the legal profession in America's business and economic life. Young people considering law school, and those advising them, will find valuable information concerning their prospects for a satisfying and profitable career as a lawyer. Trotter's earlier book, "Profit and the Practice of Law-What's Happened to the Legal Profession," has emerged as the definitive work on growth and change in the major business practice law firms in America between 1960 and 1995, and has been widely praised by prominent lawyers, bar association leaders, law firm consultants and legal scholars.