![handle is hein.journals/lignws11 and id is 1 raw text is: RLY PUBLICATION OF THE SECTION OF LITIGATION AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION VOLUME II, NUMBER I FALL 1985
LITIGATION
NEWS__
London Meeting Revisited:
A Personal Report
by- C. Timothy Corcoran, 1II, Associate Editor
Nearly 20,000 American lawyers and spouses descended
upon London July 15-20 for the Annual Meeting of the
American Bar Association. I was one of them. Filling
some 118 hotels, we attended 73 official receptions, break-
fasts, luncheons, dinners, and garden parties; 30 plenary
sessions; and 130 special interest sessions. In all, some 600
speakers and panelists provided conten, for the sessions.
The Litigation Section was particularly active with 26 pro-
grams and educational events and a gala reception. This
is a brief, personal report on the meeting and what I
learned about the British legal profession.
The visiting American lawyers arrived to London news-
paper headlines heralding the financial impact of our pres-
ence. London tourist officials estimated that the
Americans spent some 30 million pounds (more than $40
million) during the one-week meeting. London newspapers
also reported the affluence of the American lawyers,
reporting that the average bar association member earns
about $57,000 a year and that partners in big firms often
make more than $200,000. London television news reports
were filled all week with stories of Americans mobbing
London's better known department stores and restaurants.
London show tickets were reportedly unable to be obtained
the week the Americans were there.
Despite the holiday and shopping enjoyed by family
members, American lawyers filled the hotels for the var-
ious programs on an almost countless number of topics.
(continued on page 8)
Megafirms:
Is Bigger Better?
by Robin Page West, Associate Editor
'Megafirms, once thought of as old, institutional law
firms with seniority-based compensation systems, are
undergoing some radical changes. A new breed of law firm
is emerging today, which has as its goal a national prac-
tice handled by multiple full-service offices around the
country. To litigators in these firms, their caseloads have
no geographic boundaries, and their financial success is
based not on seniority, but on productivity. The size of
the firm knows no limits either, and noontime partner-
ship meetings are conducted by cross-country telephone
hookup, where partners in another time zone may be
found nibbling bacon and eggs rather than luncheon fare.
Legal publications over the past few years have begun
studying and surveying this recent phenomenon of
meteoric law firm growth. Even the Wall Street Journal
commented this summer that Every [law firm] takeover
battle has winners and losers. But at least one group always
seems to come out ahead. Lawyers.
Is this popular notion, as articulated by the Journal,
that megafirms are the byproducts of law firm takeover
battles that result in megadollars to the partners, accurate?
Many would say no. Among them is Steven Brill, editor
of The American Lawyer. That publication undertook an
investigation that culminated in a report published in July,
which purports to survey the 50 highest grossing law firms.
According to Brill, what the survey suggests is that size
has little relation to profits per partner. Moreover, Brill
(continued on page 11)
IN THIS ISSUE
UPDATE: Lawyer Advertising 3
Cooper Elected Section Chairman 3
6 Council Actions
10a Section Fall Meeting Program](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/lignws11&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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