Walker Clark
Worldview Archives
Transitioning to an Institutional Law Firm
Although there might be exceptions, “institutional” law firms appear to have been most successful in attracting and retaining international clients.
These are law firms that either never were traditional family firms nor were built on the vision, reputation, and hard work of a single founder. As a general rule, they are usually best capitalized to make long-term strategic investments. They also are most likely to have reliable and efficient decision-making processes. They have management structures and systems in place that, although not perfect, assure a reasonably consistent delivery of the highest level of professional excellence and client service.
Any law firm, regardless of size, can become an institution in its legal services market.
Signs and Portents
We’re just lawyers, not fortune tellers.
Actually, there is a lot that even the smallest law firm can do to anticipate future trends and developments that will affect them and their clients.
Here are five simple but reliable macroeconomic indicators that any law firm an use to anticipate future trends more accurately and be better prepared for both the expected and the unexpected in 2026 and beyond.
What will be most important to your business in 2026?
What should drive your law firm’s business plan for 2026?
Too many firms try to do too many things at once—and accomplish far less than they could if they focused on just two or three high‑impact strategic priorities.
As 2026 approaches, small and midsize law firms face an environment that demands a sharper sense of direction than ever before. Markets are shifting. Client expectations are evolving. Technology, regulation, and competition have blurred traditional boundaries of size and geography. Amid all this, clarity of purpose—expressed through a few well‑chosen strategic priorities—is not simply good management practice; it is an essential survival strategy.
At the Crossroads
Around the world, many first-generation law firms have reached a pivotal juncture. Their founders—now in their fifties or early sixties—are beginning to contemplate retirement and the future of the practices they built.
Without a well-informed and realistic plan, a successful legacy can quickly dissolve once the founder steps away.
Are you ready for unexpected opportunities?
Sometimes the greatest risk is the risk of unexpected success.
According to recent coverage, some of the largest U.S. law firms have become less likely to contest Trump administration actions in his second term, reportedly due to new executive pressures and retributive policies targeting law firms perceived as adversaries. As a result, cases that would traditionally be absorbed by these firms are cascading down to smaller practices—many of which face limits in staff, technology, and financial resources to handle this new caseload.
Taking on a sudden, unpredictable surge in caseload can jeopardize a small firm’s service quality, staffing capacity, and client relationships.
Is one year enough?
Should your law firm move to a “rolling” two-year business plan?
Integrating Business Planning, Compensation, and Career Advancement
The competition for legal talent has never been fiercer.
One strategy stands out for its clarity, simplicity, and effectiveness, especially for small and midsize law firms: integrating business planning, performance-based compensation, and career advancement into a unified career management path for senior associates and partners.
This post explores the structure and benefits of such an integrated system, how each component can be tailored to your firm’s unique needs, and why it is a transformative force for law firm performance and long-term lawyer retention.
“Trump-Proofing” Your Law Firm
As we at Walker Clark have been meeting since January 2025 with clients and professional friends worldwide to discuss their priorities and concerns for the next 12 to 24 months, many of them – across the world and the political spectrum – have used the same phrase to describe their anxiety about the uncertainties that lie ahead: “How can we Trump-proof our firm?”
Get Ready for an Expanded BABA
What is BABA, and why is it important to law firms everywhere?
What a Transatlantic Tariff War Means for Law Firms
The second Trump presidency has started with a flurry of activity characteristic of Donald Trump's management style. With the rapid movement over the last two weeks, it comes as no surprise that the EU is bracing for potential changes the US might try to force in the areas of economics, global security, and climate policy.
Is your law firm prepared for a Canada-US tariff war?
China is not the only country the Trump administration has in its tariff crosshairs. President Trump has already announced that we can expect to see a 25% tariff placed on all goods imported into the US from Canada, as early as February of this year. Why has Canada drawn this attention from the Trump administration? How can you support your clients that might be impacted by these new tariffs against Canada?
How could Trump Administration trade policy with China affect law firms and their clients?
Sarah Max continues her discussion of the financial implications of a second Trump administration. In this post, she unpacks some of Trump’s economic policies with respect to China and how those impacts are expected to affect the international financial industry.
What impacts should law firms expect from proposed Trump Administration tax policies?
This is the second of a series of articles about how the demand for legal services might change over the next two years under the Trump Administration. This article focuses on the effects of proposed changes to taxation.
What should law firms (and their clients) anticipate from the incoming Trump Administration?
With an impending administration change in the U.S. on January 20, 2025, many of our clients and professional friend have asked us the same question: What will the second Trump administration mean for my firm?
This is the first of a series of articles about how the demand for legal services might change over the next two years.
The Antidote to Fear
In recent confidential discussions with law firm leaders around the world, the author has noticed a very interesting apprehension that seems to be emerging as they consider the business prospects for their firm in for the next two to five years.
How then, can a law firm navigate through the strategic fears about the rest of the decade -- even the rest of 2025 -- with a reasonable degree of confidence?
Will the '“law firm of the future” need fewer lawyers?
A report from the American Bar Association suggests that the demand for lawyers, at least in the United States, might have begun to subside. 38,020 students started their first year of law school during the autumn 2022 term, compared to 42,718 in 2021, according to the report. Meanwhile, there has been a significant increase in enrollments in non-J.D. programs.
Although this data is limited to the U.S., Walker Clark LLC has begun to notice what might be the start of a similar trend in some other jurisdictions as well. What could this mean for your law firm?
What if our brilliant strategy fails?
Even the best business strategies can be knocked off-course, or sometimes even wrecked, by a crisis that the law firm only vaguely anticipated, if at all.
Some law firms not only survive crises, but actually emerge from them stronger than ever before. Our firm’s observations of the experiences law firms of all sizes, but especially small and midsize firms, worldwide between 2020 and 2022, suggest that you can make your law firm “crisis-resistant.”
You won’t be immunized from the effects of a crisis, but you will be able to resist its most serious effects and recover much more quickly.
“Imaginary Time Travel” — An Overlooked Strategic Problem-Solving Tool
A highly effective way to find breakthrough solutions to seemingly unsolvable problems today is to "travel" into the future and look back at them.
This is not "wave the magic wand” or other wishful-thinking parlor games that business consultants sometimes promote. Instead, it has a solid basis in research
Will 2022 be the year when everything changed?
For most law firms, internal operations and client service processes will not be the same in 2022 as before the COVID-19 pandemic. Many law firms have already announced how what began as temporary adjustments have already become, or soon will become, permanent components of their practice.
These changes will have substantial effects of law firm finances, lawyer performance, profitability, and in many cases, partner compensation structures and formulas.
There will be many responses by law firms around the world, but one response that will almost always be fatal eventually will be to throw up one's hands and say, "We'll figure it out as we go along — one problem at a time."
The “new normal” will not be good enough.
Banish the phrase "new normal" from your thinking about the future.
As law firms begin to think about operations after the pandemic subsides, many of their partners have been using the phrase new normal. This mindset — that the future will be just a continuation of the past — is as risky to the future of your law firm as ingesting bleach or taking ineffective, dangerous drugs to fight a coronavirus.
