Law.com has just published an analysis of the latest? Hildebrandt International Peer Monitor Economic Index…
And it looks as though the downhill slide has eventually been halted.. although
Law.com write..
The legal industry is not poised to make a miraculous recovery in the immediate future, but for the time being things aren’t getting any worse.
That’s the gist of the latest Hildebrandt International Peer Monitor Economic Index, which tracked demand for legal services, attorney productivity, billing rates and direct and overhead expenses at large and midsize law firms during the second quarter of 2009.
The index has been on a steady decline since the second quarter of 2008, but it ticked up slightly last quarter — an indication that the economic situation for law firms may be bottoming out.
“The message is that demand is still pretty soft and pricing is still pretty soft, but the management decisions firms have made has helped,” said Hildebrandt consultant Lisa Smith. “We’re not seeing significant drops anymore, and it seems like we are stabilizing.”
Demand for legal services and productivity both remained weak during the second quarter compared to one year earlier but those drop-offs were not as large as they were during the first quarter. For example, productivity was down by 11.5 percent during the first quarter and just under 9 percent during the second quarter. Demand for transaction work including corporate, mergers and acquisitions and capital markets was still far below where it was during the second quarter of 2008 but was flat or slightly up compared to the first quarter of 2009.
Full Report? http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202433201390&Survey_Suggests_Law_Firm_Economics_May_Be_Stabilizing
Hildebrandt International Peer Monitor Economic Index…? http://www.hildebrandt.com/Publications/Pages/PublicationDetail.aspx?PublicationGuid=515b40e7-e14c-486f-a37b-02446fa2d3c1
