Following on the heels of my prior TECHSHOW post on clients being smart … another phrase I heard repeated often at the conference was that we are experiencing rapid change. Really?
Finally I heard a variation of this that rang true to me. I overheard someone say, “The Change has already happened.”
After giving this some thought, I have to whole-heartedly agree. The change has happened. There may well be further changes, but the market shift change everyone seems to be yakking about has already occurred. We’re in a buyer’s market. There’s tremendous pressure on hourly rates and on the number of hours lawyers bill – regardless of how many AFAs are in use. Clients have changed their legal spend habits. So what we’re really experiencing now is a Darwin effect. After change comes adaptation.
Two Thoughts:
1 – If you’re waiting to see what the new normal will look like. We’re there.
2 – You should focus your efforts on adapting. Following a survival theme, this means doing things differently, not the same way only smarter (again – see my “Clients are Smarter?” post).