Law Firms Risking Obsolescence, Report Says

The New York Times reports:

As the legal industry faces sluggish demand for services, weakened pricing power and falling productivity, a new report is warning that the country’s law firms are failing to make “bold, proactive changes.”

The report, compiled annually by the Center for the Study of the Legal Profession at the Georgetown University Law Center, said that firms needed to overcome resistance to change and even shake up the partnership structure if they are to thrive. Comparing the situation to the Eastman Kodak Company’s refusal to face major changes in the photography industry, the report found that the legal industry was ignoring recent transformations in its marketplace, at its peril.

“Kodak essentially chose to ignore the fundamental shift in its market – until it was too late,” noted the 2016 Report on the State of the Legal Market, which described how Kodak failed to adapt to the rise of digital photography despite its early innovations in the technology.

That should be an “important cautionary tale” for the legal industry, the report said. “What once was a seller’s market has now clearly become a buyer’s market, and the ramifications of that change are significant.”

Probably not a good time to send more people to law school on the back of federal taxpayers.