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发帖数: 29846 | 1 Survey: Managing Partners Losing Confidence in the Economy
The people who head up law firms are, understandably, a little anxious about
the economy, according to a survey out this week from Citi Private Bank.
As the European debt crisis continues to cast a pall over the global economy
, the overall confidence level of managing partners at 79 law firms fell
slightly during the second quarter of 2012, according to Citi. The bank,
which is among the largest law firm lenders, polled managing partners at 27
AmLaw 100 firms, 22 AmLaw 200 firms, 22 smaller firms and three firms
headquartered in the U.K.
While most respondents reported they felt the same as they did earlier that
year, 17% said they felt “somewhat worse” than in the first quarter.
Another 28% said they felt “somewhat better.”
The biggest drop in the metrics Citi tracks was confidence in the economy at
large, which fell 19 points compared to last quarter.
This has proven to be a challenging year for law firms, which are facing
tepid demand in many practice areas and continued pushback on rates from
clients.
Conventional wisdom says law firms can still profit when times are bad due
to increased demand in areas such as bankruptcy and litigation. But 2012 has
proven otherwise, with labor and employment work essentially the sole
bright spots thus far.
The outlook for profits remained the same, according to Citi, with about 40%
of managing partners expecting growth below 5%, and 29% expecting to see
some growth.
Still, hiring is up, with some managing partners expecting to boost the
ranks at the top. More than a third of respondents said they anticipate an
up to 3% in the number of equity partners in the next 12 months, and another
17% expected increases of more than 3%. |
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