The
newly
released
2025
Report
on
the
State
of
the
US
Legal
Market,
prepared
by
the
Center
on
Ethics
and
the
Legal
Profession
at
Georgetown
Law
and
Thomson
Reuters,
doesn’t
quite
know
what
to
expect
for
firms
this
year.
On
the
one
hand,
a
“lucrative
2024”
placed
the
economy
on
sold
footing
and
many
of
the
key
factors
driving
that
growth
should
continue
to
hold
over
the
coming
year.
On
the
other
hand,
it’s
hard
to
sustain
growth
like
the
industry
enjoyed.
And
on
the
other
other
hand…
The
report
also
states
that
firms
will
likely
see
demand
weaken
in
2025,
compared
to
2024,
due
to
both
the
historic
difficulty
of
achieving
long-run
demand
growth
plus
uncertain
conditions
in
the
U.S.
and
global
economies.
However,
the
report
notes
that
results
of
the
U.S.
presidential
election
could
boost
demand
as
greater
levels
of
economic
and
geopolitical
instability
generally
see
clients
turn
to
their
lawyers
to
mitigate
risk.
In
addition,
the
2025
outlook
includes
expense
growth
remaining
at
elevated
levels,
putting
more
pressure
on
profits.
Ah.
The
“chaos
is
a
ladder”
theory
of
law
firm
demand.
You
have
to
credit
Thomson
Reuters
for
using
roughly
30
words
to
say,
“clients
need
lawyers
because
of
the
tire
fire
of
trade
wars
and
half-baked
deregulation
you
all
voted
for.”
Will
deal
lawyers
thrive
in
a
corporate
free-for-all
or
will
litigators
squabble
over
business
commitments
trashed
by
a
global
trade
war?
Either
way,
the
firms
win!
Until
the
economy
collapses
anyway.
Future
aside,
the
report
suggests
that
firms
owed
2024’s
boom
to
a
“year
of
anomalies.”
Growth
arrived
simultaneously
from
transactional
and
counter-cyclical
practices
in
a
sort-of
everything,
everywhere
all
at
once
effect
(without
the
interdimensional
war
for
survival).
Major
transactional
practices
—
corporate
(all),
real
estate,
and
tax
—
that
were
all
drags
on
firm
performance
in
2023,
improved
significantly
in
2024.
The
result
was
a
transactional
category
that,
as
a
whole,
rebounded
from
a
2.3%
contraction
in
2023
to
1.6%
growth
as
of
November
of
2024
on
a
year
to-date
basis.
Although
transactional
demand
has
not
yet
fully
recovered
to
the
heights
of
2021,
the
fact
that
it
is
now
returning
to
growth
mode
means
that
counter-cyclical
practices
that
have
performed
exceptionally
over
the
past
few
years
will
no
longer
experience
as
much
drag
from
transactional
work.Indeed,
if
counter-cyclical
practices
(such
as
litigation)
had
simply
maintained
their
growth
paces
in
2024,
law
firms
would
already
have
performed
better
than
the
previous
couple
of
years.
Instead,
what
happened
was
an
acceleration.
Along
with
this
demand
bump,
firms
were
able
to
boost
rates,
“averaging
6.5%
growth
despite
weakening
inflation.”
While
the
report
says
“despite,”
this
fits
within
the
industry’s
overall
lagging
nature.
Recessions
hit
law
a
little
later,
recoveries
arrive
a
little
slower,
and
inflation
takes
a
bit
longer
to
absorb.
Expenses
also
steadied
in
2024,
meaning
firms
saw
more
demand,
willing
to
pay
more,
while
the
expenses
got
easier
to
manage
(if
still
high).
It’s
hard
to
shoot
the
moon
twice
in
a
row.
But
chaos
is
a
ladder.
2025
Report
on
the
State
of
the
US
Legal
Market
[Thomson
Reuters]
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Patrice is
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