Florida's arrival among states looking seriously at new models of law firm ownership could be a tipping point, both encouraging new jurisdictions to get on board and fueling further experimentation by firms located in the early movers. Have an opinion? Email me here. Want this dispatch in your inbox every Thursday? Sign up here.

Welcome to Florida sign. Credit: Ingo70/Shutterstock


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A Shot of Momentum in Law Firm Ownership Rules

I've been making a bunch of calls out to Arizona and Utah lately. And while I've been talking a little basketball (congrats to Chris Paul and the Phoenix Suns for advancing to the NBA Finals), the main focus has been learning more about what recent regulatory reforms have meant for the bigger law firms in both those states. As more and more jurisdictions weigh changes to fee-sharing and outside investment, I want to find out what's happened in these early movers.

From the perspective of regional law firms serving business clients, the short answer is, "not a whole lot." And there are a number of reasons for this. But today I'll focus on just one. I'll call it the Footprint Problem. Those firms with headquarters in Phoenix or Salt Lake City extend beyond Arizona and Utah. But these new regulatory regimes do not.