A Lawyerly Bloodbath?

So, what many of us thought would happen is happening. For quite some time during the recent obvious meltdown the major law firms have been leaking out stories about how they needed to change their business model. Now this wasn’t just from the embarrassment of the Marc Dreier LLP fraud and collapse of a 250 lawyer firm. His firm’s structure (not the fraud but the “business model) wasn’t all that different from most large, midsize and small business firms (as horrifying as that is.) It is from the basic problem that most Law firms large and small don’t have a business model in the sense that it can be called a business because they are only focused on their widgets (the Legal Product).

They are managed by lawyers who have an almost total distain for business and how it is different from the widgets of legal work and not as elevated in the scheme of things (see: Danny Greenberg at LAS) and frankly see themselves as intellectually above the “Administrative Issues.” Remember that famous saying,” You don’t know who is swimming naked until the tide has gone out.” Well folks, the tide has gone out, and now the naked swimmers are being exposed.

So, now the tide is going out and the naked are being exposed. Now I know that much of this has to do with the economy that is infecting all of our business models but if you haven’t taken an interest in business up until this point in time you are going to be hit especially hard and unprepared. The legal community is just one such community which is going to be hit hard and hit it is.

This Thursday, when many large law firms passed out pink slips, and which conveniently missed the deadline for the Friday (no NYLJ edition) reporting of the “bloodbath” was an example. There are a lot of Student Loans out there that aren’t going to be repaid in a timely manner. We now have MBA’s and JD’s on the street with Joe the Plumber.

Now why law firms, large, small, for profit and not for profit don’t use basic business models and adhere to “best practices” is beyond my understanding. Now I am not saying that there is a particular business model that should be adhered to but when you have a business plan you always look to what is the worst outcome and plan for that not the best outcome and plan for that.

Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez! Non!

Aren’t these folks supposed to be, like the “Masters of the Universe,” the “Best and the Brightest?”

I’m not saying, I am just saying!

Update: I have never worked in a private Legal Organization that didn’t totally distain and reject “best practices’ on the business side of the firm such as skill based hiring, resource allocation management and most of the basic algorithms of business management. Of course when I worked for the Federal Government it was expected that anyone hired would pass the test and have the skills necessary to do the job under the job description, but then that was just bureaucracy. Oh, and work for the Public Good while they were at it!

But I guess that was back in the day before Government became a “Bad Thing” and the “Private Sector” was going to save us all and float our economy’s boat.