Profit and the Practice of Law: What's Happened to the Legal Profession

by Michael H. Trotter

"Profit and the Practice of Law – What’s happened to the Legal Profession" has emerged as the definitive work on growth and change in the major business practice law firms in America between 1960 and 1995. It explains why and how America’s major firms were transformed, and how the transformation has affected the lawyers in those firms, their clients, and the lawyers working in-house for such clients. The changes that occurred in the United States have also occurred in other countries around the world as widely diverse as the United Kingdom and Taiwan. The book has been widely praised by prominent lawyers, bar association leaders, law firm consultants and legal scholars. It's also readable by and entertaining to lay readers. The book considers many of the problems with the delivery of legal services faced by clients, corporate counsel, and private practice lawyers and law firms and suggests solutions to them. The problems that existed in the mid-1990s are still with us today and some are even worse now than then. The remedies suggested remain relevant. Young people considering a career in the law as well as career counselors and advisors will find valuable advice concerning the prospects for a satisfying and profitable career as a lawyer. New lawyers will acquire insights into the obstacle courses they face and how they can be traversed. Older lawyers will gain a better understanding of the dynamics they need to master in order to achieve success in their careers, and retired lawyers will find a structure to support their analysis and understanding of their own careers as practicing lawyers. "Profit and the Practice of Law" will also be of interest to business executives interested in containing their legal costs and anyone interested in the life of lawyers in the major American firms or the role of the legal profession in America’s business and economic life. Trotter's new book, "Declining Prospects - How Extraordinary Competition and Compensation Are Changing America’s Major Law Firms," focuses on growth and change in the major business practice law firms between 1995 and 2012 and has been cited in recent articles in "Business Week," the "New York Times," and "Managing Partner" magazine. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Michael H. Trotter received his law degree from the Harvard Law School in 1962, and his B.A. degree from Brown University cum laude (Phi Beta Kappa) in 1958. Prior to attending law school he was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow in the Harvard University Ph.D. Program in American History and was awarded a Master’s Degree in History in 1959. Mr. Trotter’s studies of law firm growth and change have combined the perspectives of a successful practicing attorney, an experienced law firm manager and a historian. As a partner in two of the largest and most successful firms in America (the predecessors of Alston & Bird and of Kilpatrick, Townsend & Stockton) and three entrepreneurial law firms, he has been a keen student of the economics and ethos of modern law practice. Mr. Trotter has written and spoken frequently on law firm management, operations and economics and the cost-effective delivery of legal services. He has also been a columnist for Atlanta’s legal newspaper, "The Daily Report," and he is the author of "Pig in a Poke? The Uncertain Advantages of Very Large and Highly Leveraged Law Firms in America," which appeared as a chapter in the American Bar Association’s publication, "Raise the Bar – Real World Solutions for a Troubled Profession" (2007). His courses in law firm management and economics at the Emory University School of Law in the early 1990s may have been the first, and were certainly among the first, to be taught at a major American law school. He is a partner in the “New Model” law firm of Taylor English Duma LLP.

258 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[V Massaglia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very thoughtful and well-written book. Mr. Trotter's style of writing is very approachable yet has a perfect combination of research and personal stories.

I learned so much about history of how law firms and their attorneys make money. It provides an expansive look at what it's like to work at these firms and what cost.

His passion for the practice of law and his care of his colleagues clearly come through in this work. I'd like to include the last paragraph of the book to give you a sense of his approach:

"The public awareness of the excesses in the legal profession and the public's growing disdain for lawyers may eventually cause the legal profession to seek to improve its image through self-reform. Many lawyers are demoralized by the atmosphere of waste, greed, and vicious competition in which they spend their working lives. If a golden past ever existed, when lawyers were admired and respected for their integrity, discipline, and restraint, we have a long way to travel to get back to that professional environment. It would be worth the trip."