Law firm managing partners are losing faith in the economy, according to a new survey from Citi Private Bank. The bank asked managing partners at 79 law firms about how confident they felt in the economy in the second quarter of the year, compared with the first quarter.

Most respondents said they felt the same, which makes sense considering the short time period. Even so, 28 percent of respondents said they felt “somewhat better,” while 17 percent said they felt “somewhat worse.” The study's most significant finding was that partners' overall confidence in the economy at large fell by 19 points from last quarter to now. Confidence in the legal industry's business conditions fell by 10 points.

The good news is that hiring is still up. More than a third of those surveyed said they expected an increase of 3 percent in equity partners, and 17 percent expected an increase of more than 3 percent.

Read more at the Wall Street Journal.

 

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