About Bruce
Search this site:


Subscribe to E-Mail Updates
About the SiteAbout Adam Smith Adam Smith, Esq. Newsletter Adam Smith, Esq. Newsletter

May 17, 2005

"Savvy Blawgers" Query #3: Future Legal Industry Structure

"Savvy Blawger" Query #3 is now out for the assembled to mull over with, of course, their cogent responses reported back to you a few weeks hence.  The question for this go-round is:

"What will the industry structure of the (US-based) legal profession look like ten years hence?"

Not to be oblique about it, but I'm seeking the collective wisdom of the Savvy Blawgers on whether the much-bruited consolidation of the AmLaw 200 is for real, in their opinion, or whether it will run up against inevitable ceilings such as a fatal overload of "conflicts" or the inherent difficulty of managing a complex and far-flung enterprise.   With corollary questions such as, are clients or firms driving it, and if firms, what are they hoping to achieve?  Etc. 

Jargon note:  I'm using "industry structure" in the economic sense, meaning what is the makeup, distribution, composition, and market share of the industry players?  The "industrial structure" of the long-haul passenger jet market is simple:  Airbus and Boeing, each at 50% of recent deliveries.  By contrast, the industrial structure of the artisanal cheese-making industry is completely atomized.

Readers are more than welcome to weigh in with your thoughts:  "Comments" are open again, thanks to the comment-spam defensive miracle known as MT-Blacklist (which according to its log has turned away 3,992 would-be comments since I installed it about two weeks ago). 

Posted by Bruce at May 17, 2005 1:12 PM | TrackBack
Posted to Cultural Considerations | Finance | Globalization | Leadership | M&A | Strategy

Printer-friendly version
Comments
Email this entry to:


Your email address:


Message (optional):


Post a comment

Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)


Remember me?


Law Firm Finance 101 Seminar

People Are Talking

"Adam Smith, Esq. is, and will remain, the definitive voice on law firm strategy."
David Jabbari, Global Head of Know-How, Allen & Overy

"I just don't know what the profession would do without you."
—Chairman, AmLaw 25 firm

“Constantly stunning.’—Managing Partner

"I read three things:  The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and Adam Smith, Esq.—and I tell my partners to do the same."
—Managing Partner, AmLaw 50 firm

“You have a fascinating niche which you cover ever so much better than does the conventional legal press.”
—Walter Olson of Overlawyered

“Required reading: Amazing.”—Venture Capitalist

"You're the brand name in law firm economics. There is no one out there—repeat, no one—who covers this business better, or thinks about it more creatively, than you. I tell people this guy is really, really good."
—Chair/Managing Partner, AmLaw 50 firm

Links: law
Links: corporate law
10b-5 Daily
Business Pundit
CorporateCounsel.Net Blog
Conglomerate

links: economics
Atlantic Blog
BusFilm by Larry Ribstein
Business Pundit
Carnival of the Capitalists
Chicago Boyz
Ensight
Marginal Revolution
Ronald Coase Institute
Stephen Bainbridge
Links: tech & culture

"Adam Smith, Esq.,"® an inquiry into the economics of law firms, and the maroon banner, are a federally registered trademark belonging to Adam Smith, Esq., LLC, which is partially owned and controlled by Bruce MacEwen.

Creative Commons License
This weblog is licensed under a Creative Commons License.