Leverage by practice area Forum

[imchuckbass58]

Does anyone have any idea (anecdotal or statistical) of leverage by practice area?

For instance, just by looking at NALP and the staffing of matters at my summer firm, I get the sense that leverage is higher in litigation than in corporate. Within corporate, I get the sense that practice areas like capital markets are more highly leveraged than, say, M&A.

Do other people agree? Any insight into other practice areas?

[Zugzwang]

Depends on the firm.

[Renzo]

Depends on the firm.

And the type of work being done inside the department. Lots of commodity work requires lots of associates to grind it out.

[thesealocust]

Does anyone have any idea (anecdotal or statistical) of leverage by practice area?

For instance, just by looking at NALP and the staffing of matters at my summer firm, I get the sense that leverage is higher in litigation than in corporate. Within corporate, I get the sense that practice areas like capital markets are more highly leveraged than, say, M&A.

Do other people agree? Any insight into other practice areas?

The trends you have noticed seem to be by and large accurate from my research.

The way firms use leverage seems to vary both between firms and between practice areas though. As an example, lit seems commonly high leverage with pyramid like staffing while capital markets seems commonly high leverage but with fewer associates on each deal - but more deals and more deals per partner.