May 22, 2026 | Sonia Hickey | Law Firm Management Missing a client call can mean missing a case. Potential clients often contact multiple firms and hire the first one that responds with confidence and speed. But attorneys are in court, in meetings, or focused on active matters, so the phone keeps ringing. Legal answering
Top 8 Legal Answering Services for Law Firms in 2026 Read More »
1,374,720 Active Lawyers in 2026 – Salaries, Demographics, State Rankings & BigLaw Trends Sonia Hickey, LawFuel contributing editor Knowing how many lawyers are in the US tells you more than just a headcount. It shows where the legal job market is heating up, how the profession is shifting demographically, what new graduates can realistically expect
How Many Lawyers Are in the US? (2026 Statistics) Read More »
Legal AI Just Went All Hollywood The legal technology sector has seen plenty of bold claims. But very few startups have had the audacity — or the funding — to enlist a People magazine Sexiest Man Alive to sell AI software to managing partners. Swedish legal AI company Legora is doing exactly that. “We felt
Former Berwin Leighton Paisner boss Neville Eisenberg has done what an increasing number of senior law firm leaders seem unable to resist: he’s launched a consultancy.
After nearly two decades at the top of BLP and a stint running alternative services at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, Eisenberg has unveiled ClarityX Advisory, a strategy outfit aimed squarely at law firms trying to survive what everyone politely calls “market disruption.”
The latest move indicates that AI, private equity money, and client pressure show that the old model is wobbling.
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BigLaw’s Latest Escape Artist Heads for Consulting Land Read More »
The Lawyer Awards 2026 shortlist has landed like a surprise costs order on a Friday afternoon, and if you were banking on seismic upheaval in the legal pecking order… well, take a nap and wait for another year.
Slaughter and May has basically turned The Lawyer Awards shortlist into its own personal trophy room, racking up nods in Team of the Year for Energy Transition, Finance, Private Capital, Corporate, Litigation, plus Talent Management and Client Service.
That’s not a shortlist appearance; that’s a hostile takeover with better stationery. Freshfields, Linklaters, Clifford Chance and Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer (post-merger glow-up fully activated) are also doing their usual Magic Circle victory lap across the heavy-hitting categories too.
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What happens when elite trial lawyers walk away from BigLaw’s billable-hour machine and build a firm laser-focused on taking cases all the way to verdict?
You get Wilkinson Stekloff—a lean, highly effective trial boutique that has quietly become one of the most respected names in high-stakes litigation, without ever sending a single traditional timesheet to a client.
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Three days after he stepped back onto a competitive golf course for the first time in nearly two years, Tiger Woods was in handcuffs. On Friday afternoon, just before 2 p.m., the most recognisable golfer on the planet climbed out of the passenger window of his overturned Range Rover on South Beach Road in Jupiter
The lateral partner market didn’t just heat up in 2025 but it ran hot. New data from Law.com Compass shows that Am Law 200 firms hired 4,152 lateral partners in the 12 months ending September 30, 2025, up from 3,473 the prior year.
That’s a nearly 20% jump — a sharp contrast to the modest 3.7% increase recorded the year before in the lateral hiring report.
The numbers tell a story of a legal industry that has found its footing again, and firms that are spending aggressively to prove it.
Big Law’s Hiring Boom – Am Law 200 Firms Snapped Up 20% More Lateral Partners in 2025 Read More »
The Perkins Coie exodus in Seattle signals a permanent shift in the lateral hiring labor market that is changing the way top law firms operate. Lateral hiring is no longer just a tactic but an entire business model.
When Perkins Coie lost lawyers to the announcement new offices for Morrison Foerster and McGuireWoods. It was in fact a signal of something structural.
The departures came as Perkins Coie prepares for its merger with Ashurst, a combination that will create a global platform of roughly 3,000 lawyers. The timing reveals a pattern that now defines elite legal practice: mergers create opportunity, but they also create instability. And instability is oxygen for competitors.
What we are witnessing is not a phase. It is the emergence of lateral acquisition as BigLaw’s dominant growth strategy.
The New Economics: Why Firms Are Buying Revenue
Legal Market Analysis – BigLaw’s Lateral Frenzy Is Reshaping the Market Read More »
In a world where celebrity philanthropy often feels like a scripted sequel, the Clooney Foundation for Justice (CFJ) – that noble venture launched in 2016 by Amal Clooney, the hard-wired international barrister from Doughty Street Chambers, and her silver-screen spouse George – has rolled out its Justice Champion Program with all the flair of a premiere.
Snagging litigation titan Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan as the inaugural partner, this initiative promises a pro bono powerhouse to shield at-risk women from discrimination and violence, while springing journalists from unjust detention for daring to ink the truth.
Clooneys Team Up with Legal Heavyweight Quinn Emanuel To Don the Cape for Global Justice Read More »
