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According to data compiled by the Peer Monitor of the Hildebrandt Institute, the second quarter of 2012 experienced consistent growth in labor and employment work, though the overall market was tough and stagnant.
Labor and employment increased in demand by 4.7 percent, while the overall demand for legal services fell by 0.2 percent. The PMI also commented on the need for the industry to rethink and restructure traditional models, as traditional avenues of revenue growth seem to be shrinking.
According to the PMI, litigation work saw little demand while the demands for real estate and bankruptcy work fell by 3 percent. This, however, has been the continuing trend over the last year. The demand for corporate work also suffered a decline of 2.1 percent.
Mark Medice, the program director of Peer Monitor said, “I’d say for 2012 it’s going to remain a challenging year … Law firms have seen expenses growing but top line revenue remained fairly flat.â€
Regionally, the report claims that Los Angeles is the best market right now with a growth of 5 percent in overall legal work while legal work in places like Washington and New York continue to decline.
Besides labor and employment, IP litigation also continued the trend of growth though the upward movement slowed to a bare 0.2%.
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According to market segments, midsize firms had the best performance with a growth of 1.9% in demand, while the demand for Am Law 100 went down by 0.8%. Am Law 200 managed a growth of 1.0%.
This is not a new scenario, unless you observe that the Am Law 100 suffered a decline for a straight second quarter, while middle-level firms saw a rise in demand for their work. According to the PMI, lawyers at big law firms did not have sufficient work.
