Credit: VectorMine/Adobe Stock In-House Counsel: Big Law's Clear and Present Danger
Hugh Simons looks at the growth of in-house counsel, the future impact of Gen AI and what it will really take to be an equity partner in Big Law moving forward.
September 27, 2023 at 04:31 PM
9 minute read
The original version of this story was published on The American Lawyer
Keep this in mind as you read about how generative AI will upend the legal profession: over the last 20 years the number of in-house lawyers has more than doubled while the number of lawyers in Big Law has grown by less than a third. The implication? The legal industry is already transforming as clients bring in-house work that would historically have gone to outside counsel. Industry transformation is not waiting for the next technology wave to hit.
Figure 1 shows the number of U.S. lawyers working in-house and at Am Law 100 and Second Hundred firms from 2000 to 2022. In the mid-2000's, essentially the same number of lawyers worked in-house as at Am Law 100 firms. Since 2010, however, the trajectories have diverged. The in-house ranks have grown by 77% while the Am Law 100 added just 23%. Growth at the Second Hundred, at 10%, has lagged both.
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