The Week That Unmasked Law Firm Dinos, Ruled Which Romance Is Okay and Made Legal Engineers Glam

The post in Reddit nails it. This week's once-unthinkable raid of Wachtell by Gibson Dunn unmasked how vulnerable many seeming successful law firms are. 

Along with Wachtell, Cravath, Williams and Connolly and more are being written off as dinos. To even survive they will have to overhaul their model and probably stick to being domestic firms. Smirk. No surprise then that Cravath, once a market-maker, hasn't matched Milbank. Meanwhile Milbank has added an off-season bonus to its salary jump. Milbank could be establishing itself as an alternate model. 

In addition, as The Wall Street Journal posited, mega is the present and the future of practicing law. Obviously, the media will shift coverage to concentrating on what Gibson Dunn, Kirkland & Ellis and Latham are up to. Smaller players could be fading entities. Like Medieval monks, they may labor in obscurity. 

Along with that development this week, what we also know: Cupid's bow has lots of reach in law firms. Not only was there the rogue move of junior partner Cullerton. Along with that, big kahuna Savitt, it was disclosed, indulged in matters of the heart. But that was okay. His former law firm Watchell doesn't have non-fraternization policies and the soulmate was on his team but not a subordinate. 

And, it turns out that law schools aren't BSing youth when they message about the high utility of a law degree. It isn't limited to hands-on practicing of law. At Reuters Legal Sara Randazzo, who used to be at the WSJ, in a sense christened legal engineering as the glam spot for the JD.  Essentially that role: 

"Part developer, part sales and customer service rep, the job is all about making AI more useful for lawyers."

The glam piece is employment at AI leaders such as OpenAI and Harvey as well as early-stage AI start-ups. Oh, to be part of that scene. But, both law firms themselves and in-house do use legal engineers. They function to boost efficiency, reduce operating costs, improve quality of service and make systems more scalable in order to penetrate new markets.

Some law firm leaders could be having a jolly fine weekend. Others could be wondering if their kingdom will be around in five years. 

In coaching I warn never to get comfortable. Your whole game could go poof in a week.

Careers. Forget all that. It’s about earning a good living, no matter what.

Complimentary consultation with Jane Genova, StreetSmart Coaching (janegenova374@gmail.com)


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