Optimism About Profitability Declines Among Law Firm Leaders: The Morning Minute

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October 05, 2023 at 06:00 AM

3 minute read

Law Firm Profitability

By Zack Needles

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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

PROFIT PROBLEMS - Law firm leaders, operations heads and pricing chiefs are less optimistic about year-end profits than they were around this time last year, according to a new survey by LawVision and BigHand. And far more firms are reporting declines in profit growth of 10% or more compared to 2022, according to the survey. That means, as Law.com's Dan Roe reports, the squeeze is on to extract as much profit from the 2023 fiscal year as possible. Law firms are increasingly emphasizing billing hygiene, profitability training and utilization levels to compensate.

MACHINE LEARNING - Much of the training for use of generative AI is either too general, inapplicable to legal professionals or too technical. But what if there was genAI training that was juuuust right? As Law.com's Justin Henry reports, 10 Am Law 200 firms and one Global 200 firm have signed on to test-pilot and influence SkillBurst Interactive's vendor-agnostic genAI training program. Anusia Gillespie, chief strategy and growth officer at SkillBurst, said that, as the creators of genAI tools, vendors are "instrumental," but "there needs to be a neutral third-party content that is delivered internally so the people feel it's a firm initiative, not a specific product training," she said.

ON THE RADAR - Warburg Pincus has agreed to place an investment in Everise, an outsourcing services provider, valuing the company at around $1 billion. The transaction, announced Oct. 3, is expected to close by the end of 2023. Singapore-based Everise was represented by a Kirkland & Ellis team led by corporate partners Adam Clifford, Srinivas Kaushik, Kartik Khanna and Adarsh Varghese. Everise is also backed by Brookfield Asset Management. Warburg Pincus, based in New York, was represented by a Latham & Watkins team jointly led by partners Amy Beckingham, Alex Kelly and Shaun Hartley. Stay up on the latest state and federal litigation, as well as the latest corporate deals, with Law.com Radar.