Canadian law firms weather the economic storm

Canadian law firms seem to have weathered the financial crisis and recession without seeing any major firms go under, without serious hits to the bottom line, and without the kinds of lay-offs seen in US firms, says Ottawa lawyer Jordan Furlong, a partner with law-firm consultancy, Edge International. Furlong says that the major challenge for Canadian law firms in the years to come is coming to terms with the increasing client demand for lower and more predictable pricing for legal services. While in the US the top 250 firms reduced their lawyer headcount nearly 2,900 in 2010, after reducing my a whopping 6,600 attorneys in 2009, Canadian firms are generally only marginally smaller than they were three years ago. The article suggests that the reason for the stability of the Canadian legal services industry is that, unlike many US firms, most Canadian firms have a diversity of practice areas. So when the mortgage-backed securities market collapsed it did not spell doom for entire firms.

Canadian law firms weather the economic storm lawyersweekly.ca Wed, Jul 6, 2011