For 2020, reports Bloomberg Law, Kirkland & Ellis might have had a record $5-billion year. And according to Wells Fargo, for the top 50 firms, on the average, profits during 2020 were up 11%. That, of course, happened when much of the rest of the U.S. had been suffering financially.
As those numbers are officially released and made public, BigLaw has the challenge of positioning and packaging those results so that they don't alienate clients, prospects, current employees, those laid off, the media, the public and government officials (appointed and elected).
That won't be easy.
BigLaw is in the same pickle that BigOil had been in the era of the late 1970s oil embargos. Back then it was earning windfall profits. Its public relations, both internal and outside, kept cranking out material to try to defuse hostility from so many constituencies. One tactic was to present in detail the large amount of investment needed for oil exploration and development, along with the high risk involved. Many projects didn't spout oil.
Overall BigOil didn't hit homeruns in its outreach.
BigLaw might not either. What could set in and harden is an antipathy of what BigLaw is all about. That is, targeted could be everything from how it defends clients to its billing practices. The pressure of that push-back could force it to pivot to whole new models.
Meanwhile, though, sure, it can attempt to justify its own version of windfall profits.
Initiatives could include:
- Citing how its work benefits democracy. Obviously, democracy is under attack.
- Making known in detail the extent of pro bono assignments and the results. This can take the format of "It's a Wonderful Life." That is, a peek into how life in America would be without those non-paid efforts.
- Explaining how America's legal system operates and why it is superior to that of so many others and how much money that consumes.
- Listing the dangers to the integrity of the U.S. legal system.
- Outlining its contributions, including taxes, to communities and worthwhile causes.
- Making individual lawyers symbols of the fight for truth, justice and the American Way.
- Vision for the future of America and how those profits will help make that happen. Among what's on the agenda is increasing diversity.
Even a college student majoring in communications, though, would predict tough reputation-management sledding for BigLaw in 2021.
It's not unthinkable that there will be barbarians at the gate who do get in and take on BigLaw where it's most vulnerable. Currently, that's its PPP.
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