People, Places & Profits, Part I: A Look at the Talent Decisions Across the Full Am Law 200
Read more about the new Average Professional Staff Per Lawyer metric as well as the attorney roles firms are most focused on.
July 17, 2023 at 12:55 PM
8 minute read
The original version of this story was published on Law.com Pro
Strategic Guidance for Law Firm Management
Welcome to the Law.com Pro Executive Briefing with Patrick Fuller and Gina Passarella. This week we begin a three-part examination of the full Am Law 200 data set, including a look at people, places and profits. In this first briefing, we explore how firms are staffing across lawyer and business ranks and introduce a new metric tracking staff to lawyer ratios at law firms. If you have topics or data you'd like to hear more about, let us know at [email protected] and [email protected].
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How the Am Law 200 is Approaching Staffing
Growth and contraction are far from mutually exclusive, as is evident from the goings on at many Am Law 200 firms. Along with a perceived mandate to grow substantially, firms are also actively cutting lawyers and staff.
The desire for growth comes from the need to compete with not only larger firms, but other professional services providers as well as to gain an otherwise shrinking pie for legal services being performed by Big Law. Spreading out growing costs of things like cybersecurity is another motivator for growth.
But some of their historical growth doesn't match with current market dynamics. Firms that overhired during the pandemic are looking to shed talent due to falling demand. And even if the potential impacts of generative AI haven't hit law firm structures just yet, firms are shedding staff they say are performing tasks that are or will soon be obsolete.
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Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
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