Law Practice Management
Is Law Firm Paradigm Shift Ahead? Bring It On, Says Dechert Leader
Posted Apr 6, 2009 7:02 AM CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
Will a paradigm shift change the way law firms do business? Quite possibly, says Dechert chairman Bart Winokur, who is ready for the challenge.
Winokur “is a lawyer with a long reputation for being tough, even ruthless,” the Lawyer reports. Many legal consultants believe he is one of the most effective managing partners in the United States. These observers believe he is well-prepared to lead the firm after three rounds of lawyer and staff cuts.
Most recently, in late March, the law firm laid off 63 “lawyers and other timekeepers” and 62 staff members. Previously the firm had cut 29 lawyers and 87 staff members.
Winokur spoke to the Lawyer before his firm’s layoffs on March 26. The article pointed out challenges for Dechert: a 50 percent drop in revenue for the firm’s finance and real estate practice, departures in the firm’s London real estate practice, and the closing of its office in Frankfurt, Germany.
At the same time, the firm has no debt, a positive cash flow and a strong dispute resolution practice that brought in more than 50 percent of the firm’s revenue last year, the story says.
Winokur believes that the best will succeed, no matter what the challenges. "Cream always rises,” Winokur told the Lawyer.
“What’s happening is a little more serious than I thought, but not a lot more,” Winokur told the publication. “But I’m tempted to say there’s a paradigm shift facing law firms in terms of the way we do business. Because I like that. I always think I have an advantage when there’s a paradigm shift.”
Winokur said the legal market also saw fundamental changes in three of the last four decades (he excluded the 1990s). Such changes bring opportunities, in his view. “They favor the nimble, the brave, the people who have courage and who embrace change,” he told the publication.
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Comments
Pride before fall?
Apr 6, 2009 1:12 PM CST
This guy is an insecure clown, cast in the same third tier mold as Bob Link at Cadwalader.
These type of self-aggrandizing statements are not only foolish but not becoming of a truly world-class firm. Can you imagine Joe Flom or Marty Lipton saying something like this?
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B. McLeod
Apr 6, 2009 6:36 PM CST
I thought Winokur was that program where contestants cast dice for a chance to take home a stray dog from the local shelter.
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d
Apr 10, 2009 1:50 AM CST
“They favor the nimble, the brave, the people who have courage and who embrace change”, which is to say, not lawyers.
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risk averse
Apr 10, 2009 6:11 AM CST
i agree with 3 - aren’t lawyers typically risk averse?
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B. McLeod
Apr 10, 2009 7:22 AM CST
Apparently not the ones who have been prosecuted recently for real estate frauds and securities frauds.
Still, our nation does clearly have a problem with people of low I.Q. (lawyers and otherwise) spewing “Bring it on”.
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Bird Smack
Apr 10, 2009 7:34 AM CST
My IQ is 139. If you don’t believe me, bring it on, sucka!
BigLaw Rules (but I’m too smart to work there)!!!
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Clark
Apr 10, 2009 8:02 AM CST
You’re right, there is a shift…..If your client makes $15 to 30 per hour and you charge $200.
Then how much justice can he/she afford. Thats why a lot of people & companies opt out to a more affordable plan….‘Pre Paid Legal Services’, Inc. They make the legal system affordable…..Don’t talk about the shift….move with it!!!
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Jake
Apr 10, 2009 8:24 AM CST
“departures in the firm’s London real estate practice, and the closing of its office in Frankfurt, Germany”
Who was involved in recruiting the rainmakers in London? Any chance the firm lost money on this venture? Who decided the firm had to have a Frankfurt office?
My guess is it was not one of the laid off 92 lawyers.
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Victor B
Apr 10, 2009 8:47 AM CST
More anecdotal confirmation of the hypothesis that the incompetent are doubly hobbled by their dullness, which renders them unable to recognize and account for their limited abilities. Burning insecurity begins further down the scale toward genius, and the farther along you go, the hotter it gets.
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anon
Apr 10, 2009 8:55 AM CST
Is 139 supposed to be a high IQ?
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bac59447
Apr 10, 2009 9:52 AM CST
More abuse of the language. A “paradigm shift” is a move such as going from Newtonian to Quantum physics, from scriveners to the printing press and from land forces to air forces. It’s not going from 100 greedy partners to 75 or from 10 palatial offices to only 8.
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B. McLeod
Apr 10, 2009 10:46 AM CST
And, it’s not just whenever you move a pair of dimes from a client’s pocket to your own.
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YeeeeeeehAW!
Apr 10, 2009 12:53 PM CST
# 6 Bird Smack—
There are only two occasions when mentioning your IQ score is acceptable and not proof of your status as a galatic douchebag: One is when you are trying to avoid the death penalty by claiming mental incompetence, and the other is…...there is no other occasion.
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4th Tier Hero
Apr 10, 2009 2:12 PM CST
#13….preach on, brother….preach on….
If BigLaw managing partners wrote a book about business, it would start at Chapter 11.
Viva REASONABLE attorney fees!
Stop overbilling your clients to offset the cost of your marbled bathroom stall on the 56th floor!
Some small and medium sized firms are EXPLODING and taking biz from these jokers because clients are figuring out they don’t have to pay outrageous rates for the SAME or BETTER service and work-product.
So, BigLaw, just sit back and contemplate how you are going to “meet the challenge” while I am busy paying attention to your clients. Your apathy and lethargy are my cash-cow. Keep up the lack of work!!
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schlub
Apr 10, 2009 6:36 PM CST
The subject of this article figured out a way to get paid six figures a year to sit in his office and pontificate while people who work for a living are struggling to stay above water. This man may not be anybody’s nominee for “Humanitarian of the Year,” but he’s no dummy.
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BMF
Apr 11, 2009 7:29 PM CST
At times like this, revisiting the Monty Python Group’s “The Crimson Permanent Assurance” makes even more sense:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xyqxc_the-crimson-permanent-assurance_fun
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Muck
Apr 12, 2009 6:17 AM CST
How many countless careers has Bart ruined to acheive his ambitions? This guy is driven by power, and steps on everyone he can to get what he wants. He rules by fear and intimidation.
Time to retire. Dechert is no longer a place for the civilized practice of law.
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bruinjack
Apr 13, 2009 8:38 AM CST
I must say B. McLeod is in rare form today…
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LA
Apr 14, 2009 7:35 PM CST
YeeeeeeehAW - before you call someone else a douchebag for mentioning their IQ, kindly recall that you posted how much money you make as a comment to an earlier article. Can’t really think what the difference is between you two.
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