#attorney-headcount

#attorney-headcount

For the first time in three years, more law firms are planning to expand their office footprint, rather than contract, according to a new report from commercial real estate brokerage CBRE.

I'm incredibly proud of the firm and what we've accomplished in the last year. We had certainly, the year before, a historic year financially, and this year was also historic in being one of our best financial years in history.

He was always tired. Not the kind of tired you fix with a weekend off, but the kind that settles into your bones. Conversations with him felt rushed, as if he were always somewhere else mentally.

The legal profession rewards endurance, precision and control. It also quietly normalizes stress, isolation and overextension. For patent practitioners and other IP lawyers, the pressures are uniquely acute: compressed prosecution deadlines, high-stakes litigation exposure, often unrealistic client-driven budget constraints, regulatory whiplash at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and increasingly complex technologies layered with global filing and prosecution strategy.

With decades of leadership and coaching experience, Phil shares practical insights on aligning values, setting expectations, and creating cultures where lawyers and staff can thrive together. Culture Is Not a Statement. It Is a Daily Practice Law firms often talk about values such as balance, flexibility, and respect. Phil explains that culture becomes real only when those values are reflected in everyday decisions. When expectations around workload, compensation, and availability align with stated priorities, trust grows naturally.

This may be the last year that law firms can expect billing rate increases to drive financial stability, according to a new survey of more than 800 senior finance and legal professionals in large firms across North America, the United Kingdom and Ireland. Technology company BigHand's 2026 finance report suggests that firms can no longer rely on traditional measures of profitability, as clients are demanding more efficiency and predictability amid the increased adoption of artificial intelligence across the legal profession, according to Law.com.

I can tell an AI-generated resume from a mile away and it's not getting the interview. I'm looking for something that shows me the candidate knows their story but doesn't need five pages to convey it. Recruiters are quickly skimming to know your key practice areas, career level, the job titles you've held, notable companies and law firms you've worked for, and your key achievements.

Leading legal departments are shifting from reactive negotiation to proactive pricing design, setting guardrails before rates are proposed rather than responding after the fact. This approach enables departments to establish parameters and expectations upfront, fundamentally changing the negotiation dynamic and improving outcomes.

The Thomson Reuters Institute and Georgetown Law's Center on Ethics and the Legal Profession released their annual State of the U.S. Legal Market report today, and the good news is that law firms are absolutely crushing it. Profits are up. Rates are up. Demand surged in 2025 at levels the industry hasn't seen in more than a decade. The Am Law 100 is printing money, midsize firms are having a moment, and everyone is congratulating themselves for their "resilience."

From law firms to in-house legal teams, the rules of value are being rewritten. The question is: Who's ready to lead the change? In the first episode of 2026 for the UpLevel View podcast, Stephanie Corey and Ken Callander sit down with Rita Gunther McGrath, Columbia Business School professor and Wall Street Journal columnist, to talk about how AI is forcing professional services to price outcomes instead of hours.