Finally, Kirkland & Ellis Updated the Game - Now What?

 The largest law firm in the world Kirkland & Ellis made headlines when announcing it would no longer disclose financial data. The buzz was that move was generated by increasing client discontent with high legal bills. 

Smirk. The reality should have always been that it was nutty for a law firm - that is, not a public company primarily accountable to investors - to crow about metrics such as Profits Per Equity Partner. Any business-savvy client would start connecting the dots and maybe begin comparison-shopping.

Sure, a law firm should be signaling growth, but not through the PPEP lens. 

Yes, on the one hand, a firm had to be positioned and packaged as in a high-growth mode. Way back in 2021, Paul, Weiss partner/thought leader Brad Karp hammered in Bloomberg Law that firms not on a growth trajectory could actually go out of business. The categories for that include the number of star partners, international expansion and creation/scaling of practices aligned with client needs such as Private Equity/M&A. Implicit in this, of course, is that a law firm requires the financial resources to fund growth. 

But, come on, if you were a client would you welcome knowing that your business constituted part of the funding source. K&E finally accepted that reality.

Change generates more change. So, what else could be happening?

Well, given clients' ramped up attention to billing rates, they will likely become more and more discerning in choosing their providers. Already, as I know from talking with in-house counsel, selection is based on recommendations from their networks, recent track records, thought-leadership publications and responsiveness. About the latter, did the West Coast partner show up totally prepared and alert for the New York based 7 AM Zoom meeting?

However, now they might automatically rule out firms which indulge in old-line marketing. How distracting and annoying. 

For example, what about all those awards featured on the website? The joke is that corporations don't choose Skadden or Cravath because of their website. That's mere window-dressing. Moreover, too well-done a website could be a negative. Clients aren't buying aesthetics.

Way back in 2018, Forbes exposed the folly of all those awards. Many were stand-alones, with no link to client satisfaction. Also, there's too often the pay to play aspect. 

Another turn-off is relying on an in-house advocate or even a few to get and keep the business for you. With time and it might not be long that can backfire. I have worked with in-house lawyers who smoothly organized campaigns against this tactic, bringing in their own choice.

A third is a cultural mismatch. The New York partner is the front lines for a Southern based account. The traditional prestige aura might not play in that context. Get a proxy down there. Not unthinkable is that in this status-driven profession prestige factors in less in getting, holding and growing business. This is a turbulent era for law firms. During such an era for the US auto industry, the Chrysler turnaround leadership veered away from all status markers. 

A fourth is not being a leader in the integration of AI for strategy and logistics. 

Is the lesson here: Change before you have to? Had K&E stopped boasting earlier it might have delayed the current aggressive pushback on billing. 

Careers. Forget all that. It’s about earning a good living, no matter what. Intuitive coaching and, upon request, tarot readings.

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




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

America Not Hiring in 2026: Back to Golden Age of Solopreneurs?

 For hiring, 2025 was a brutal year to search for a job. The Wall Street Journal reports that 2026 could be worse: "At a gathering of CEOs in Midtown Manhattan this month organized by the Yale School of Management, 66% of leaders surveyed said they planned to either fire workers or maintain the size of their existing teams next year. Only a third indicated they planned to hire." The WSJ adds that pullback from adding manpower could be temporary. But given shareholders' demand for cost-efficiency and the continual improvements in AI, chronic unemployment could become standard. However, there is a solution. An old-fashioned one. That's becoming a solopreneur, that is setting up your own business without partners or employees. The model dates back to ancient times.  The golden age of the solo business owner in America had been from the late 1800s to about the mid 1920s.  There had been a wave of immigrants, discrimination against them and few jobs. They drove pushcarts ...
Read more

Scott Barshay's Leadership at Paul, Weiss Torpedoed, PR Nothing But a Joke, Sympathy for Brad Karp

  Last week was a bad, gone worse and worse, one for law firm Wachtell.   This week starts out as what could upend the new leadership of Scott Barshay (The Decider) at Paul, Weiss.  Today's very long-form article in The New York Times  by Michael Schmidt and Jessica Silver-Greenberg depicts Barshay negatively. Understatement. He is rolled out as one-dimensionally power-driven, abrasive, divisive and downright naive about the power of the media. About the latter, he blew off any concern about the media's response to the law firm's removing from the website the Center to Combat Hate.  An example of the beating delivered Barshay? Here is the NYT coverage of the response by some at Paul, Weiss when Barshay was hired: "But there was unease among some at Paul Weiss. Partners and associates learned from lawyers at Cravath that some people there were not unhappy to see Mr. Barshay go. His ego made him difficult to work with, the Paul Weiss lawyers were told." No ambigu...
Read more

Newly Minted PhDs in Economics Face Unwelcoming Job Market: Of Course, I Left My PhD in Humanities Off the Resume

Monitor postings on Reddit subunits focused on careers and it's no longer news that PhDs, both newly minted and those already in the labor market, generally are finding the credential an obstacle in the search for a job or even contract assignments. No, not an asset.  Let's cut to the chase. The highly educated have to get smart about this, fast. With some exceptions, I advise those I coach to leave the PhD off job-search materials. The negative assumptions among those hiring range from that you expect too much money to you'll be a know-it-all.  When my boutique collapsed post-9/11 and I had to land a survival job I lopped off everything but the BA. At the interview I dumbed-down my vocabulary. Sure Harvard was started in 1636 but America remains anti-intellectual. In addition, the integration of AI into strategy and operations makes knowledge work in general less and less marketable.  That's the narrative of our times: Advanced degrees having low or no ROI. The result,...
Read more