Prerequisite: None

Exam Type: No Exam

On the surface, the basic model of the large law firm has remained remarkably stable since Paul Cravath and a handful of other pioneers laid out the blueprint at the turn of the twentieth century. But beneath this calm exterior, the “Cravath System” – hiring lawyers straight out of law school, putting them through a rigorous 6-10 year apprenticeship, promoting the best to partnership, and expecting them to stay for their entire careers while those who didn’t make the cut were asked to leave, lock-step renumeration, billing by the hour, and stable client relationships – has been under stress for over 40 years.

Since 2020, these pressures have skyrocketed. Law firms are now tackling increasingly complex problems for sophisticated clients with large internal legal teams, all in a fiercely competitive environment with multiple providers vying for clients and talent. Add to this mix a set of potentially revolutionary technologies that could replace some of what human lawyers do, while demanding that those who remain learn new skills and ways of thinking, and the most significant generational transfer in history, and the challenges facing the “neo-Cravathist model that most law firms still follow today have never been greater.

And yet, notwithstanding these challenges, top law firms – and their partners – have never been more profitable, not just in the United States but in virtually every established and emerging financial center worldwide.

In this reading group, we will dive into these forces of disruption and continuity and ask what law firms might look like in the age of ESG, ChatGPT, and GenZ. To help us envision these futures, we will be joined by guests from across the Big Law ecosystem, including general counsels, alternative service providers, tech entrepreneurs, consultants, and recruiters, as well as experts from law-adjacent fields like venture capital, change management, organizational design, and psychology.

As one example of the new world we are trying to understand, this description was written with the help Microsoft Copilot!

Note: This reading group will meet over two weeks, on the following dates: March 24-26 and April 14-16.