When the business paper of record (I refer of course to The Wall Street
Journal,
at least here on this side of the pond, although I’m increasingly fond of the Financial
Times), prints a prominent article on its Op-Ed page entitled The
End of Big Law, as Arthur Miller might have put it, “attention
must be paid.”
I’m here to tell you to pay no attention. Or, if you insist, that it
will go deeply unrequited.
The author is Douglas McCollam, described by the Journal as “a former
correspondent for BusinessWeek, [and] a contributing writer for The American
Lawyer.” So
far as Google and I can tell, he has actually written a grand total of one
article for BusinessWeek and perhaps two
or three for The American Lawyer,
the most recent in 2005.
Mr. McCollam’s credentials as a domain expert in our industry aside, the
article falls quite spectacularly on its own merits, as a truly impressive
exercise in the abject failure of critical thinking:
- “For the first time since the Berlin Wall fell, profits dropped…” The
same is surely true of almost every other industry and sector in the economy
including, not to make an awkward point, the publishing industry. - “[A] great many members of the American bar fell prey to the same strain
of hubris that infected their clients. They embarked on empire building–opening
offices from Beijing to Bucharest.” This could also be characterized
as participating in the great post-cold-war phenomenon of globalization, or,
more simply, as following your clients. As for “hubris,” I have yet to
meet a managing partner not exquisitely attuned to the sentiments of their
partners and the perceptions of their clients. As CEO’s of multi-hundred
million dollar enterprises, they are a modest bunch indeed. - “[B]ig law firms find themselves just another smokestack industry with
too much capacity.” Last time I checked, we were not capital-intensive
nor do we have but the most trivial base of fixed assets. - Finally and perhaps summarily, nothing in the article connects to the headline,
“The End of Big Law.” Nothing.
Much of me was loath to, and so I delayed, writing this column. Indeed,
I debated whether it was worth even drawing attention to this misbegotten exercise
in tabloid journalism. Besides, I trust your discernment and analytic
skills, to see through such transparently jackleg and misbegotten efforts.
So only a coda on what a wasted opportunity for the WSJ. Our
industry represents 1.4% of GDP–we’re 10% the size of healthcare, which has been receiving a bit of ink lately, and I’d like to think we’re an economic locus of activity not to be
sneezed at–and Murdoch & Co. the editors fumbled it.
Alas.
