by Brianna Crandall — February 16, 2015—Cushman & Wakefield’s Legal Sector Advisory Group (LSAG) recently released the results of its second National Legal Sector Benchmark Survey, which indicate a continuing reduction in revenue spent on real estate, and in office size.
Among its key findings, and in stark contrast to last year’s results, is a 17% increase in respondents who believe that traditional partnership structures will be completely reorganized. In addition, competitive fee structures overtook recruitment and retention as the number one issue affecting business competition—a notable shift in perception from last year’s survey.
The survey showed the changing landscape in business competition among law firms.(Click on image to enlarge)
“The legal sector is quickly coming to terms with the changing workplace environment. Finding and keeping talent is the priority, and the way law firms are structured and organized is changing,” said Sherry Cushman, executive managing director and head of Cushman & Wakefield’s LSAG. “This survey is an outgrowth of our client-only commitment to fully understand the niche requirements and key drivers affecting the legal sector—now and in the future.”
Additional highlights include:
- 12% of firms that negotiated a relocation of their lease in the past year relocated into a smaller envelope of space, while only 4% increased in size.
- 70% of firms responded that they did not experience a merger in the past five years.
- Only 15% of respondents had profit increases above 11%; the majority (33%) saw an increase between 1% and 5%.
- Continued decline in the percentage of gross revenue spent on real estate.
The survey of more than 400 decision-making representatives of law firms across the globe—from boutique to Am Law 100 mega-firms—provides key insights, statistics and trends about the business, financial and operational drivers affecting the legal sector. The survey was conducted in partnership with ALM Legal Intelligence.
