2015 Law Firms in Transition – An Altman Weil Flash Survey, Contributing Authors – Thomas S. Clay, Eric A. Seeger.

“Now in its seventh year, Altman Weil’s Law Firms in Transition Survey continues to document how the business of law is changing and identify emerging forces that will move the legal market forward — whether law firms are ready or not. Key findings from the 2015 survey include:

• Increases in law firm profitability are clearly linked to strategic changes in lawyer staffing, efficiency of legal service delivery and pricing approaches.
• A high level of decision-making authority conferred on law firm leaders correlates with better economic performance.
• Overcapacity of equity and non-equity partners, especially in larger firms, is endemic and a drag on profitability.
• Non-traditional competitors are actively taking business from law firms and the threat is growing.
• In 63% of law firms, partners aged 60 or older control at least one quarter of total firm revenue, but only 31% of law firms have a formal succession planning process…”