In the Greek myth, Scylla and Charybdis were maritime hazards located close enough to each other that avoiding one meant passing too close to the other and falling victim to its dangers. This is not so unlike the increasing number of challenges set before law firm leaders as they try to navigate through what seems to be an increasingly perilous landscape rife with opposing hazards.

It is more expensive to operate a law firm than ever before, but demand and productivity are declining. To compensate and maintain profitability, rates are increasing, but Chief Legal Officers (CLOs) — under tremendous budgetary pressure — have set reducing outside counsel spend, right sizing legal services and cost minimization as top strategic objectives in 2023. See, 2023 ACC CLO Survey.

The vast majority (86%) of lawyers prefer working from home (see, 2023 Thomson Reuters State of the Legal Industry Report); almost half of all junior lawyers may leave a firm for a better WFH policy (see, "Where Does the Legal Profession Go From Here," ABA (Sept. 2022), but leadership fears of loss of firm culture and disengagement are driving an increase in RTO mandates (see, "A Huge Concern: Big Law Leaders Grappling with Attorney Disengagement," The American Lawyer (June 22, 2023). To compensate, firms are now placing an ever-increasing focus on how, where and what their real estate looks like, transforming their office spaces, increasing amenities and luring professionals back in a "flight to quality," but space utilization still hovers around 50%. See, Cushman & Wakefield 2023 Bright Insights.