Legal Industry Growth Factors Show a Down Side

The Washington Post writes of Howrey today, "... just two years after reporting its most profitable year ever, the 55-year-old law firm now stands as a cautionary tale, its towering success all but undone by powerful forces transforming the legal establishment."

The reporter observes: 

The genteel days when a lawyer might begin and end a career at a single firm - and loyalties were forged with camaraderie and partnership - are largely over. Law firms in Washington and beyond have taken a page from their Wall Street counterparts, becoming as much a big business as the clients they represent.

Lawyers are increasingly transient - loyal to their clients, not their firms. When they walk, they take the clients and leave the firm locked into obligations and real estate leases.

Read the full story here.