Is It Do or Die Time for Top Law Firms?
The 15 minutes of fame many corporate lawyers enjoyed during last fall’s economic implosion may be coming to an end, reports the Financial Times (reg. req.).
When the financial crisis heated up, deal-makers shifted their focus to the intricate language of merger and credit agreements, parties sued each other over breached contracts, and corporate attorneys stepped into the limelight once dominated by investment bankers and hedge fund managers.
But, as the parade of bank deals slows, major players like Lehman Brothers, Wachovia and Washington Mutual are now gone, and the newspaper says that some attorneys may find themselves back in the chorus line.
“Bankers’ ability to garner fees is going down,” says the head of a top global law firm, “But we definitely feed at the same trough.”
Several leading global firms expect revenues to flatline or sink deeper in 2009. Reports of lawyer layoffs are rampant, and at Clifford Chance, equity partners are being asked to ante up additional capital contributions of 100,000 pounds ($150,000).
Leaders at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Dewey & LeBoeuf told Financial Times they are redeploying attorneys to practice groups expected to be busier in the new year, such as bankruptcy and restructuring.
At Skadden, mergers and acquisitions lawyers hope to maintain their high-level client relationships by advising on divestitures or restructuring.
“We’re going to have a lot more crisis management, and that’s what M&A lawyers do,” a high-ranking partner told the Financial Times. “Hopefully, you take the relationship you’ve had and expand it into more general corporate governance.”
