Large law firms face increasing financial pressure as the market for legal services becomes increasingly competitive. This has required unprecedented attention to running firms as profitable enterprises, and to monitoring the productivity of lawyers. Some observers claim that this means that law practice has been transformed from a profession to a business. This book examines that claim by drawing on more than 270 interviews with partners in major firms. These interviews reveal a more complex reality. It is true that firms place greater demands than ever on partners for economic productivity ... More

Large law firms face increasing financial pressure as the market for legal services becomes increasingly competitive. This has required unprecedented attention to running firms as profitable enterprises, and to monitoring the productivity of lawyers. Some observers claim that this means that law practice has been transformed from a profession to a business. This book examines that claim by drawing on more than 270 interviews with partners in major firms. These interviews reveal a more complex reality. It is true that firms place greater demands than ever on partners for economic productivity. They emphasize the importance of being entrepreneurial in seeking out business, terminate partners who are deemed insufficiently productive, give greater weight to business development in compensation decisions, and recruit partners from other firms who can increase profitability. All these measures can make it difficult for a firm to create a distinctive culture that binds its partners together. They risk creating a sense among partners that the firm is no more than a business enterprise that strives for profitability, and that self-interested behavior is the best course of action. At the same time, interviews indicate that partners continue to regard non-financial professional values as significant sources of satisfaction. Firms that can credibly signal that they regard these values as intrinsically important, while simultaneously devoting attention to financial performance, have the potential to elicit partner commitment by providing both financial and professional rewards. This book describes and assesses how firms approach the challenge of striking this difficult balance.