For law firms, 2011 was a tale of two years. The strong demand momentum coming into 2011, which continued through the first six months, caused many law firm leaders to believe that a degree of certainty had been attained. The second half of the year was a rude awakening as demand, particularly in transactional work, withered away and has yet to bloom again.

So, while revenue growth in 2011 exceeded the prior year, even greater expense growth squeezed margins and resulted in a PPEP profit per equity partner increase of just 3.3 percent vs. 7.4 percent in 2010. In 2010 the industry was rebounding from a weak 2009 which made higher year-over-year increases easier to attain-not so in 2011.

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