So I assigned Larry Ribstein's Death of Big Law article to my upper level seminar yesterday. For those of you who haven't read it, Larry takes the reader on a brief tour of old theories of the law firm (tournament of lawyers, etc.), the increasing specialization of partners and their willingness to jump ship the moment a better offer comes their way. Larry goes on to discuss changes in the law market and how globalization and increasing price sensitivity among clients is threatening the Big Law model, which was never very stable anyway.
I talked about the importance of a book of business and the pressure to generate billable hours for associates. What seemed most surprising to the students was the discussion of law firms as businesses in the classroom, with partners and associates making economically self-interested decisions about their careers.
Halfway through class I got the nagging feeling that I was breaking some unwritten law professor rule. We're not supposed to talk about the business of law in law school, are we? At least we generally don't. Why not?
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