Legal Arena Starting to Look A Lot Like Sports

"I've never seen anything like this." How many times have you been in a conversation with someone and either you or that person had said that when talking about the current economic market and its impact on BigLaw? With all of the dynamic moves of partners, the freeze on hiring associates, the firm collapses and even with people such as Marc S. Drier driving his firm into the ground, this all seems strange and foreign to us- but is it really?



I can't but help thinking that we have seen this all before, only in a different market....sports. I know you may think I'm crazy, but let's just compare and contrast for a minute.


For those of you who are sports fans let's float back to a time when the baseball players had a reserve clause and when you were with an NFL team, they owned you for your career- or until they didn't want you anymore. That's how it was in the early days of Biglaw. An Associate, would come into the fold, work his or her way up to Partner and retire as Of Counsel. There was little movement from firm to firm except for those exceptional few- the Babe Ruth's of the legal world if you will.

...and then came Curt Flood

All of a sudden in the 90's with the Biglaw's love affair with the lockstep, Associates began to firm hop. Three years here, four years there. With the pay mostly in unison , associates could take that step and test free agency knowing that if they moved to a competitor they would be compensated the same. The risk of moving was lessened. Loyalty was gone. Johnny Damon moved to New York. Brett Farve was trying to play for the Vikings. Associates began to test the market more and more and asses their value to both there firms and their competitors. The talent wars, which had historically occurred in the law schools and amongst that group, had now spilled out into the "street" of firm life.

.....and then came Nick Saban and Larry Brown
With the Players all jumping ship after "Plan B" free agency, the fans could never depend on the loyalty of a player again, but one thing they could always count on is that the captain of the ship, the head coach would be there through and through for the team....That is until Nick Saban and Larry Brown came around-the genius coach that could turn any team around- for the right price. What we are seeing now in these slow times is a drop in the stock on the "player" or the Associates and a rise in the stock in the "coaches"- the Partners.

Partner recruiting is now hotter than ever, and in the past 12 months there has been a record number of lateral moves by senior and junior partners. So not only are Nick Saban and Larry Brown changing teams, but so are the Tom Creen's and Norv Tuners of the legal world.The times of loyalty and and the 20-year stay are gone. We just have to get used to attorney movement and accept it as a part of the business, just as we have to accept that Jay Cutler plays for the Bears.

So the next time you or your friend say "I've never seen anything like this," all you need to do is turn on ESPN and you will have it right in front of you.