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Strategies for Reining In Expenses During Down Market

By Rob Mattern
February 01, 2023

The economic outlook for firms heading into 2023 is, as we know, challenging. By the end of 2022, there was substantial slowing in demand growth, so much so that overall demand contracted by 0.1% by the end of the year, according to the latest data from Thomson Reuters. Transactional work was falling off and clients started pulling more work in-house, placing considerable strain on law firm financials which, quite frankly, were already under pressure from a 24-month long war for talent that resulted in the highest associate pay increases on record and ensuing increase in overhead.

The unfortunate combination of falling demand and growing cost of headcount combined to trigger a significant decline in productivity across the market. Thomson Reuters' industry benchmarks show this productivity loss means that the average lawyer in 2022 produced $98,000 less in total fees.

This is not a tenable situation. It is not surprising, then, that layoffs have marked the end of 2022 and beginning of 2023 — Cooley, Strook, Goodwin and Gunderson are just a few of the big names that have been transparent about their layoffs.

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