Nobody is accusing Big Law firms of moving too fast in response to slack demand for their services and client demands for change. But a new survey released Tuesday shows that one important group is increasingly frustrated by the industry's sluggish pace of change: Law firm leaders.

The ninth annual Altman Weil Law Firms in Transition Survey states that managing partners have lost confidence in their partners' willingness to change how they operate. This year, 65 percent of managing partners surveyed said partners' resistance to change was one reason their firm wasn't doing more to adapt how they provide legal services to clients. That number was 44 percent just two years ago.

The survey of 798 leaders of law firms with 50 or more lawyers said this “concerning misalignment” between managers and their partners “must be solved if firms are to make necessary strategic changes.”