Growth Is Dead, the Must-Read Series

Adam Smith, Esq. is on a roll. Or at least, Bruce MacEwen, author of the Adam Smith, Esq. blog is. His blog posts, “Growth is Dead” have been an on-going series looking at the changes to “BigLaw” since the economic problems of 2008.

Revenues of firms have significantly dropped since that time. One pressure is coming from clients with respect to pricing. From Part 1 of the blog:

Simply put, clients are pushing back as never before. Among other things, they are:

• serious, for the first time, about alternative fee arrangements, caps and blended rates, rate freezes, and so on
• strongly resisting—even refusing—paying for junior associates
• requiring that major segments of a matter, be it litigation or transactional, be handled by LPOs, staff/contract/temp lawyers, or anything other than full-time partner-track associates.

The series has garnered MacEwen some good attention, including this interview with Bloomberg Law in October:

I am curious to know how this relates to Canada: are firms seeing the same pressures, to the same extent? Are things changing as rapidly here?

This is what he has published so far, and there is no end in sight:

Growth is Dead:

• Part 1 – Setting the Stage
• Part 2 – Excess Capacity
• Part 3 – Expectations
• Part 4 – Economies I & II
• Part 5 – Innovation?
• Part 6 – Failure
• Part 7 – Psychology
• Part 8 – Now What?
• Part 9 – Future Models
• Part 10 – Clients [added here Nov. 6/12]
• Part 11 – Granting Your Wish [Nov. 8/12]

How many more instalments will there be? Will I add them to this post? We shall have to wait to find out….