Date: April 12, 2013 Topic: The Shrinking ... - Georgetown Law

current economic turmoil. During the recession, partners with high‐value corporate clients left their big
firm “homes,” slashed their fees, and flourished. Similarly, small elite firms increasingly market
themselves as alternatives to excessively leveraged big firms. They can do this even in big cases by
contracting with LPOs to do the heavy lifting. Finally, a new breed of entrepreneurs is working to
develop new technologies and sophisticated operational methods. If successful, these methods may
vastly increase the productivity of legal services providers—and perhaps further erode the market for
traditional lawyering. Whether innovation is coopted by the incumbent elite firms or disrupts them, the
potential impact on what most lawyers do in their careers may be profound.
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