Is It Really Sayonara to Biglaw This Time?…

It’s been at least eight years and counting since I first started documenting the Biglaw to Small Law trend. Seven years of preaching over and over and over again, about the benefits that solo and small firms can bring to big firm clients, from lower costs to fewer conflicts to more personalized service to superior quality representation.

At that time, biglaw to solo just seemed to make so much sense. Yet somehow, every time I felt certain that the legal professional had reached the solo tipping point, I’d come across another article about laid off associates squandering $75,000 severance checks to travel the world instead of using it sensibly to start a law practice or yet another example of how the legal profession revolves around biglaw.

So now, there’s yet another article in Corporate Counsel about how the trend from big law to small law is here to stay with corporate lawyers flocking to small firms. The article makes all the points I’ve made over the years about the benefits of small firms – and even makes the bright observation that hey, small firms can handle much of the work that is currently offshored more effectively and cheaply (duh!).

Still, having been burned before, I can only wonder: is the current corporate love affair with small firms (not necessarily solos, by the way) the real deal, or just a marriage of convenience that will lose its bloom when good times return?

What say you, solo and small firm readers – are you attracting bigger corporate clients these days and why are they choosing your firm and/or solos over others? And if not, why not?