Credit: CYCLONEPROJECT/Shutterstock.com Credit: CYCLONEPROJECT/Shutterstock.com

The Trend:

Law firms have become increasingly reliant on their business professionals in recent years—but you likely wouldn't know it by the way many of those professionals are treated.

The Driver:

C-suite roles in charge of operations, finance, business development and personnel have all grown in terms of responsibility and impact in recent years.

As Gillian Facher, executive director of Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young in Philadelphia, recently told Law.com's Justin Henry: "Law firms have focused very heavily on the practice of law for many, many years. One major shift in law firms in the last 10 to 15 years has been on not just delivering legal services but the manner in which they are delivered."