Kenneth D. Gartrell

By: Kenneth D. Gartrell

Law firms, which optimize their practices between size and leverage, appear at first blush to be the most profitable. Are they also the most interesting places to work, with the most attractive career potential for entering associates who have high value added skills and degree combinations that can engender innovation, profit and growth? This exploratory analysis provides, limited but suggestive indications that law firms are pursuing strategies depending more on the quality of staff, organization and culture than on the brute force of size or the vagaries of customized services.

Law firms vary widely both in size and in the ratio of associates to partners working for the firm. The former relates to the scale of operations. The latter is called the leverage ratio, and since most firms bill junior staff at higher profit margins per hour, the greater the leverage a firm produces the higher the bottom line – as long as the margins are high and utilization rates are maintained.

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