On our recent LegalTech Week Journalists Roundtable, we went into a discussion about the increased emphasis of late on so-called midsize law firms. In particular, we talked about their needs when it comes to things like technology.
Certainly, more attention has recently been paid to this group of law firms. Clio provided a Survey entitled Legal Trends for Midsize Law Firms that focused on midsized law firms. Clio recently announced it planned to aggressively market to midsize firms in the future. An outfit called Actionstep recently released its 2024 US Midsize Law Firm Priorities Report. Thompson Reuters recently published its State of the Legal Market Report, which deals in part with midsize law firms.
What’s a Midsize Law Firm?
But any discussion of midsize law firms begs the fundamental definitional question: what is a midsize firm? To a solo practitioner in a small town, a midsize law firm may be the town behemoth of 10 lawyers. To an AmLaw 100 or 50 firm, a midsize law firm may be a firm of 100 lawyers. To a regional firm of 150 lawyers, a midsize firm is probably one of 25 to 50.
Focusing on size when it comes to law firms is, in fact, way too simplistic an approach both for vendors and certainly for law firms themselves. It’s too broad a brush for determining needs and strategy. Size may be a convenient label, but it does not necessarily reflect reality.
Law firms today face a myriad of needs and decisions in so many areas. Things like purchasing decisions, long-range strategies, branding, practice area focus, staffing and recruitment, financial management, risk management, infrastructure, expansion and growth, client matters, professional development, and many other decisions law firm management faces daily. Assessing and meeting these needs and making management decisions must