"You've stunned us into silence." A brave statement uttered by the practice group co-leader after a few uncomfortable minutes of silence on a call with partners from an AmLaw 100 firm. She was reacting to what she just learned and heard for the very first time in her 10 years at the firm. What she and the other lawyers on the call just experienced shouldn't have been remarkable or stunning in any way. But it was. And similar episodes like this play out in various ways across our profession from small law to BigLaw.

This practice group leader had been trying to lead a small team of partners in an effort to change how they tackled and delivered a niche but high-volume type of matter. These matters don't typically demand a highly skilled and seasoned partner. Nor do they represent significant risk to clients. Due to these factors and others, clients are putting immense downward pressure on pricing across the whole market. This practice group's situation is complex and challenging as they are losing money on half of their matters for their largest clients and many of their profitable clients are signaling that this group's competitors are edging them out by offering more interesting and valuable approaches at better rates.