Bloombergs report that there’s a rising level of confidence among law firm managing partners, according to a Citi Private Bank report, but it’s ‘modest’.
The report showed the slow increase for the third quarter of the year.
The 67 law firms participating in the quarterly “Law Watch Managing Partner Confidence Survey” expressed muted optimism about both the economy and the legal industry.
Thirty-five percent of partners, for example, said conditions in the industry would be “somewhat better,” while 52 percent expected no change.
Half said revenue would either remain unchanged or grow as much as 5 percent. An additional 32 percent said revenue would increase 5 percent to 10 percent.
As for headcount, 68 percent said they expect some increase in the number of associates employed. Only 44 percent projected an increase in equity partners, and the same fraction said they anticipated some additional hiring of non-equity attorneys.
Of those surveyed, 85 percent said they expected anything from a decrease to only limited growth in expenses.
