Earlier this year, a report by Thomson Reuters and the Georgetown University Law Center confirmed what many midsize firm leaders already knew: In terms of law firm size—and not necessarily quality—litigation is going down-market.

The 2023 State of the Legal Market report indicated that although litigation demand fell for the Am Law 100 by 2%, demand rose 1% at midsize, specialized litigation shops in 2022. In the prior year, litigation demand growth at midsize firms also outpaced the Am Law 100. Per analysts like Jim Jones, director of programs and trends in law practice at Georgetown's Center on Ethics and the Legal Profession, corporate client preference toward specialized litigation firms has been on the rise since at least the end of 2020, around the time when litigation work began to pick up after initial court closures from the pandemic.

In the past six months, that trend seems to have accelerated, with midsize and boutique firm leaders reporting another uptick in demand due to clients' desire to keep costs in check in an uncertain economy.