The New York Times takes its readers inside the economic life of law firm partnership in "A Lawyer and Partner, and Also Bankrupt," describing the distress of a mergers and acquisitions partner in a prestigious global law firm in New York City. Indiana University law professor William Henderson offered this explanation:
For the last 40 years, all firms had to do was answer the phone from clients and lease more office space. That run is over. The forest has been depleted, as we say, and firms are competing for market share. Law firms are in a period of consolidation and, initially, it’s going to take place at the service partner level. There’s too much capacity.
