LMA Strategies -September/October 2016 - 21
rior to 2008, BigLaw was booming and firms
kept pace with
client demand by
hiring law students
for summer associate
positions. These students were groomed
to become associates and many received
full-time offers upon graduation. But
with the great recession came significant
changes across the legal landscape. As
the economic downturn bled into all sectors, companies drastically cut their legal
budgets and, in response, law firms scaled
back across the board, including campus
recruitment efforts.
Now that the dust has settled and the
economy has stabilized, the pendulum
appears to be swinging back as the legal
field tries to find equilibrium. BigLaw firms
are still laying off attorneys, but client
acquisition is on the rise. After
years of downsized summer
associate classes, we are
witnessing an upward trend.
Why now?
A Growing Generational Gap
Law firms are realizing that by eliminating
or reducing summer programs and law
grad recruitment for almost a decade,
they've widened the generational gap
between their attorneys and their clients.
Millennials are now the largest generational
group in the country and workforce. This is
not mirrored in law firms, where most of
the attorneys are Baby Boomers and, to a
lesser degree, Generation X.
Such a distinct gap can have negative
consequences. For instance, a large
generational gap between attorneys
and clients can lead to a decrease in
client satisfaction. Millennials interact
with technology differently than previous
generations; they are more likely to
communicate through text and email than
telephone. They may expect their attorney to
have a similar relationship with technology.
This can be problematic when dealing with
Boomer generation lawyers, who may still
use phone calls as their primary form of
client communication. Millennial clients
may see this interaction as intrusive or
even irritating.
If that weren't enough, this generation
gap also exists between firm attorneys and
in-house counsel, who are primarily Gen
Xers and Millennials. This disconnect may
affect the continuity and relevance of longterm relationships between firms and their
corporate clients.
Closing the Gap
If firms do nothing, this gap is bound to get
worse. Boomer generation attorneys will
start retiring en masse in the next decade
and the Millennials now graduating from law
school are not getting the training needed to
fill these roles. Additionally, if firms continue
to ignore the need to invest in new law
graduates, they will lose out to corporations
in the competition for top legal talent.
Firms are beginning to recognize that
summer associate programs and law
school recruitment can aid in closing the
generation gap. They can hire the summer
associates who prove that they are a
good fit. They can leverage Millennial law
students' relationships with technology
to enhance their own practices. They can
onboard these professionals by providing
them with business development and
marketing training while training them to
become lawyers.
Proactive firms will stay relevant to their
ever-changing client base. The firms who
are investing in summer associate programs
now will have an easier time keeping up
with the evolving legal landscape for many
years to come. ◾
Jonathan R. Fitzgarrald is managing
partner of Equinox Strategy Partners.
For nearly two decades, he has been
providing strategic guidance to
lawyers and law firms to drive
revenue and increase market visibility.
He can be reached at JFitzgarrald@
EquinoxStrategy.com or 424.277.3200.
WWW.LEGALMARKETING.ORG
21
http://www.legalmarketing.org
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of LMA Strategies -September/October 2016
Contents
LMA Strategies -September/October 2016 - Cover1
LMA Strategies -September/October 2016 - Cover2
LMA Strategies -September/October 2016 - Contents
LMA Strategies -September/October 2016 - 4
LMA Strategies -September/October 2016 - 5
LMA Strategies -September/October 2016 - 6
LMA Strategies -September/October 2016 - 7
LMA Strategies -September/October 2016 - 8
LMA Strategies -September/October 2016 - 9
LMA Strategies -September/October 2016 - 10
LMA Strategies -September/October 2016 - 11
LMA Strategies -September/October 2016 - 12
LMA Strategies -September/October 2016 - 13
LMA Strategies -September/October 2016 - 14
LMA Strategies -September/October 2016 - 15
LMA Strategies -September/October 2016 - 16
LMA Strategies -September/October 2016 - 17
LMA Strategies -September/October 2016 - 18
LMA Strategies -September/October 2016 - 19
LMA Strategies -September/October 2016 - 20
LMA Strategies -September/October 2016 - 21
LMA Strategies -September/October 2016 - 22
LMA Strategies -September/October 2016 - 23
LMA Strategies -September/October 2016 - 24
LMA Strategies -September/October 2016 - 25
LMA Strategies -September/October 2016 - 26
LMA Strategies -September/October 2016 - 27
LMA Strategies -September/October 2016 - Cover4
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