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http://m.americanlawyer.com/module/alm/ ... 1104440602

Never sure which is the most useful forum for these reports. It might be better to have one thread for these reports that can be updated as they are released.

Basically, demand is down and expenses are up. Instead of the slight growth seen last year due to a strong second half of the year, citi has revised 2013 to be flat with no growth.

Citi sees the slight increase in firm head count as just worsening the excess capacity. Excess capacity is a major cause of the extreme price pressure facing firm.

NYstate wrote:Citi sees the slight increase in firm head count as just worsening the excess capacity. Excess capacity is a major cause of the extreme price pressure facing firm.

Not 100% sure you can say that. The article didn't have breakdowns concerning where the headcount was concentrated and whether any particular segment was driving revenue. We have seen in the past that the top 25-35 firms are growing at a much higher rate than the rest of the pack. The % headcount growth is tiny and could easily be concentrated at the firms where revenue is growing

AllTheLawz wrote:

NYstate wrote:Citi sees the slight increase in firm head count as just worsening the excess capacity. Excess capacity is a major cause of the extreme price pressure facing firm.

Not 100% sure you can say that. The article didn't have breakdowns concerning where the headcount was concentrated and whether any particular segment was driving revenue. We have seen in the past that the top 25-35 firms are growing at a much higher rate than the rest of the pack. The % headcount growth is tiny and could easily be concentrated at the firms where revenue is growing

I'm just quoting the article. I haven't read the underlying report. You are correct that this is an overall report and not focused on specific firms. Intuitively it makes sense that the firms with increased revenue will hire if they need more people to do the work.

But increased revenue is coming from increasing rates, not demand.

NYstate wrote:extreme price pressure facing firm.

NYstate wrote:But increased revenue is coming from increasing rates

So is there price pressure or isn't there?

Can't it be both?

Rates increased about 3.7% about the same as last year. But there is pressure to keep rates down. A 3.7 % seems small to me, but there were a few years with no increases.

Before ITE firms increased revenue just by charging more each year.