Large firms underutilize senior lawyers

This article points out that high-performing junior lawyers are never short of interesting and challenging work, but once they make it to the senior partner rank they will languish without an independent client base. There are plenty of reasons why talented lawyers reach a senior rank without their own book of business: perhaps their work gave them relatively little contact with clients, and almost no extended contact with particular clients; perhaps they are introverted and don’t naturally attract business; perhaps the lawyer ran a large matter over a period of many years, and the client had the good fortune not to confront another similar dispute; or perhaps the lawyer had a substantial client, which was acquired by another company that already had established relationships with other counsel. Under-employed senior lawyers pose problems for law firms - they are well-compensated and they’re no longer earning their keep. Perhaps some thinking could go into changing the way that lawyers delegate work within a firm, to ensure that senior lawyers are put to productive use and to honour the service that they have put into the firm.

Large firms underutilize senior lawyers abovethelaw.com Tue, Oct 2, 2012