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The decline in revenue in Cadwalader's litigation department is in line with industrywide trends, but the firm's corporate department, on the contrary, has experienced a 32 percent increase in revenue, a spokeswoman for the firm confirmed.

Total revenue in the law firm's transactional practices - corporate, capital markets, antitrust, finance, financial services and tax - was up 16 percent from 2014, the firm said.

smaug wrote:Incoming associates at most firms should be a little concerned.

Anonymous User wrote:I mean, just read a bit further in the article:

The decline in revenue in Cadwalader's litigation department is in line with industrywide trends, but the firm's corporate department, on the contrary, has experienced a 32 percent increase in revenue, a spokeswoman for the firm confirmed.

Total revenue in the law firm's transactional practices - corporate, capital markets, antitrust, finance, financial services and tax - was up 16 percent from 2014, the firm said.

Of course you can't take anything for granted (2008 still looms large), but there are still only a handful of firms churning out $2M PPP and $1M RPL. So the bottom line here is that Cadwalader is a bit less spectacularly profitable than usual. But relative to the NLJ 250 writ large, it's still printing the stuff.

So the "should I be concerned" line might beg the question "concerned about what?" Somewhat greater incentive for partner defections? Maybe. In such a highly-leveraged firm, that's not great. But unless you're Quinn Emanuel, litigation is sagging far and wide, so it's not everybody else is on a hiring spree to mop up that talent. Capital markets are as busy as ever, that's still a CWT bread-and-butter moneymaker. And all these practices are cyclical, so it's really a puerile online exercise to act like we know where the market for M&A gurus or litigators will be in three years.

In the end, use some common sense to decide if 3.7% sounds like doom and gloom. Maybe the folks at Bingham were saying the same thing, but as far as I can tell, it sounds like 3.7%. Meh.

Monochromatic Oeuvre wrote:These threads are always dumb.

Either way your best bet is trying and be halfway decent at your job without killing yourself. You're not going anywhere else anyway, so stop reading tea leaves.

Capitol_Idea wrote:

Monochromatic Oeuvre wrote:These threads are always dumb.

Either way your best bet is trying and be halfway decent at your job without killing yourself. You're not going anywhere else anyway, so stop reading tea leaves.

Yeah but for the people going into OCI this summer it's good to have as much info and perspective as possible.

Anonymous User wrote:

Capitol_Idea wrote:

Monochromatic Oeuvre wrote:These threads are always dumb.

Either way your best bet is trying and be halfway decent at your job without killing yourself. You're not going anywhere else anyway, so stop reading tea leaves.

Yeah but for the people going into OCI this summer it's good to have as much info and perspective as possible.

FWIW, I work in Capital Markets and there is probably going to be a slow down this year, at least with respect to asset-backed securitizations. That said, it's largely related to spreads blowing out right now and loan origination slowing down... Either way, the latter half of year is slated to be busy as normal assuming the banks don't freak out over risk retention.

I do agree with Monochromatic though... The economy in general is pulling back right now and I wouldn't be surprised if we have a recession on paper later this year. Again though, that said, I think most firms have been more cautious post-recession with hiring numbers and going slow enough not to risk major layoffs again. Remember, 2008 was terrible... Historically speaking, a job in Biglaw has been a relatively secure career path (at least for the first couple of years)...

Lastly, and correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Capitol_Idea still in law school? I.e., why are you commenting on the state of a practice when you aren't actually plugged in to anything yet? Even if you summered at CWT, I don't think you're going to be in the loop enough to comment on how busy various practices are.

Capitol_Idea wrote:

Monochromatic Oeuvre wrote:These threads are always dumb.

Either way your best bet is trying and be halfway decent at your job without killing yourself. You're not going anywhere else anyway, so stop reading tea leaves.

Yeah but for the people going into OCI this summer it's good to have as much info and perspective as possible.

smaug wrote:Incoming associates at most firms should be a little concerned.

krads153 wrote:

smaug wrote:Incoming associates at most firms should be a little concerned.

I don't think firms would generally fire first years, but second years are fair game.

Capitol_Idea wrote:I'm a 3L so I'm not "plugged into" any firm very specifically but frankly even many partners are kept in the dark about the state of affairs of their firm so literally no one on this site is on any kind of inside loop.