From Big Law to Lean Law

William D. Henderson

International Review of Law and Economics, 2014, vol. 38, issue S, 5-16

Abstract: In a provocative 2009 essay entitled The Death of Big Law, the late Larry Ribstein predicted the shrinkage, devolution, and ultimate demise of the traditional large law firm. At the time virtually no practicing lawyer took Larry seriously. The nation's large firms were only one year removed from record revenues and profits. Several decades of relentless growth had conditioned all of us to expect the inevitable rebound. Similarly, few law professors (including me) grasped the full reach of Larry's analysis. His essay was not just another academic analysis. Rather, he was describing a seismic paradigm shift that would profoundly disrupt the economics of legal education and cast into doubt nearly a century of academic conventions. Suffice to say, the events of the last three years have made us humbler and wiser.

Keywords: Ribstein; Legal Profession; Law firm; Reputational capital; Structural change (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:irlaec:v:38:y:2014:i:s:p:5-16

DOI: 10.1016/j.irle.2013.06.001

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