This is a joint post by David Barnard & Mark Shapiro of Blaqwell and Jack Bostelman of KM/JD Consulting Blaqwell is a pre-eminent consultancy that advises top law firms on high-level issues, such as strategy, mergers & acquisitions, compensation systems, performance measurement and lateral hiring strategies. KM/JD Consulting advises leaders of Am Law 200 firms how to improve practice group productivity and achieve real follow-through from lawyers on internal initiatives.

Trends revealed by the 2016 results

Our article analyzing trends revealed by the 2016 results of the Am Law 100 firms was published recently in the American Lawyer. Our article updates the findings of our recent blog post describing trends based on the prior year's data. (Click here if you prefer a downloadable PDF of our article rather than linking to the American Lawyer web site.) Our American Lawyer article addresses the following:

• Is a small group of firms continuing to grow its already outsize share of Am Law 100 profits?
• Does this stratification matter to firms outside the group? Why?
• What competitive tiers are emerging? Which firms are in which tiers? What factors contribute to success as the industry stratifies? What are the competitive implications of being in a particular tier?
• What is the most important metric for predicting a firm's long-term success?
• Is absolute size important to a firm's long-term success? Why?
• What paths to success are available to firms not in the leading tier?
• How fast are the identified trends playing out?
• What do these trends imply for the merger and lateral markets this year?

Conclusion

There is opportunity for great performance by firms, and rich reward to their partners, in each of the emerging competitive tiers. As firms below the leading tier set their strategies, though, they need to be mindful of the additional and growing competitive risks presented by the trends identified in our article.

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