Legal News: Partners Eat While Associates are Starving (for work)

Thomos Reuters Peer Monitor Index (the "report") generated a new study finding the average growth in billed rates reached record highs in the year’s second quarter, even as demand for legal services plummeted. 

Demand for legal services dropped 5.9% in the second quarter, the biggest year-over-year quarterly drop since 2009, according to the Thomson Reuters Peer Monitor Index. At the same time, more work shifted to partners, pushing the average billed rate 5.2% higher than at the same point last year, according to the new report, available here.

Other report findings include that law firms have rapidly cut expenditures, with furloughs and layoffs hitting support staff harder than lawyers. Spending on marketing and business development has dropped by an average of nearly 20% on a rolling 12-month basis. Most major practice areas saw declines in demand, including litigation (down 7.5%), corporate work (down 5.5%), tax work (down 9.1%) and real estate (down 12.2%). Bankruptcy is doing well, with demand increasing 6.2%. The Peer Monitor Index gathers information from 160 major law firms in the United States and key international markets.

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