Feature Article |
The Last Days of the Philadelphia Lawyer
By Tom McGrath
Even more important, though, is that the market for legal services has been, if not globalized, at least nationalized — which means that Philly firms are now competing for clients with firms in New York and Chicago and Charlotte and anywhere else easily reachable with a BlackBerry and some frequent-flier miles.
The heightened competition — combined with the bottom-line mentality that began taking hold at least 15 years ago — has spun off its own consequences. While lawyers at big firms make more money than ever, there’s a certain sense of ennui among many in the profession. Previous generations of attorneys had the sense that in practicing law, they were serving the public good. A fair number of lawyers today fret that what they do has no more value than selling used cars. “It can suck the soul out of you,” one lawyer complains of the constant focus on billable hours and client development and all the other things lawyers now do that aren’t actually practicing law. Says another, of the pressure to make more and more profits, “How much is enough?”
Equally significant is the volatility in personnel: Once upon a time, lawyers stayed with their firms for life, but today the need for growth has firms courting partners (and their clients) from rival firms — thus creating a market for mid-career lawyers only slightly less heated than the one for free agents in baseball. In 2007, 109 partners in Philadelphia jumped firms, up from 68 two years prior.
The biggest impact may be on the firms themselves. In the past 20 years, each of the marquee practices in Philadelphia has grown significantly, by hiring more lawyers or by acquiring smaller firms. But legal-world convergence has now reached the point where the hunters are becoming the hunted. The thinking among many lawyers in town is that within a decade, a number of the biggest firms in Philadelphia — excluding the two biggest, Dechert and Morgan Lewis — will likely have merged with other firms around the country. And by “merged with,” they generally mean “been eaten by.” As Alderman puts it, “You can’t be confident that any other Philly firms would be the dominant partner in a merger.”
From a practical standpoint, this may not mean much. There will still be plenty of lawyers in Philadelphia, and plenty of them will still be making plenty of money, even if the big decisions about their firms are being made in other cities. But from a symbolic and psychological standpoint, what’s happening to lawyers is profound. Not only does it further cement Philadelphia’s status as a branch-office town — a phenomenon that’s robbed us of significant public leadership — but in a broader sense, it crystallizes that there’s really only one thing we deem important at the beginning of the 21st century: the bottom line. We aren’t seeing the end of lawyers in Philadelphia, but we are almost certainly watching the last days of that mythic creature called the Philadelphia Lawyer.
The heightened competition — combined with the bottom-line mentality that began taking hold at least 15 years ago — has spun off its own consequences. While lawyers at big firms make more money than ever, there’s a certain sense of ennui among many in the profession. Previous generations of attorneys had the sense that in practicing law, they were serving the public good. A fair number of lawyers today fret that what they do has no more value than selling used cars. “It can suck the soul out of you,” one lawyer complains of the constant focus on billable hours and client development and all the other things lawyers now do that aren’t actually practicing law. Says another, of the pressure to make more and more profits, “How much is enough?”
Equally significant is the volatility in personnel: Once upon a time, lawyers stayed with their firms for life, but today the need for growth has firms courting partners (and their clients) from rival firms — thus creating a market for mid-career lawyers only slightly less heated than the one for free agents in baseball. In 2007, 109 partners in Philadelphia jumped firms, up from 68 two years prior.
The biggest impact may be on the firms themselves. In the past 20 years, each of the marquee practices in Philadelphia has grown significantly, by hiring more lawyers or by acquiring smaller firms. But legal-world convergence has now reached the point where the hunters are becoming the hunted. The thinking among many lawyers in town is that within a decade, a number of the biggest firms in Philadelphia — excluding the two biggest, Dechert and Morgan Lewis — will likely have merged with other firms around the country. And by “merged with,” they generally mean “been eaten by.” As Alderman puts it, “You can’t be confident that any other Philly firms would be the dominant partner in a merger.”
From a practical standpoint, this may not mean much. There will still be plenty of lawyers in Philadelphia, and plenty of them will still be making plenty of money, even if the big decisions about their firms are being made in other cities. But from a symbolic and psychological standpoint, what’s happening to lawyers is profound. Not only does it further cement Philadelphia’s status as a branch-office town — a phenomenon that’s robbed us of significant public leadership — but in a broader sense, it crystallizes that there’s really only one thing we deem important at the beginning of the 21st century: the bottom line. We aren’t seeing the end of lawyers in Philadelphia, but we are almost certainly watching the last days of that mythic creature called the Philadelphia Lawyer.
 |
Change text size |
 |
Print |
 |
Email |
 |
Write a comment |
User comments
- No users have posted comments on this article.
