S&H CEO Stefan Stein Featured in The American Lawyer About How Mid-Size Law Firms Can Respond to Recessionary Pressures

Sherman & Howard’s CEO Stefan Stein appeared in an article by The American Lawyer about mid-size law firms positioned to pick up market-share in the wake of large law firms’ potential fee hikes.

In the article, law firm leaders discussed possibilities of recession and how mid-size law firms will react. Stein said he had observed a trend of clients being more price conscious as a potential recession looms.

“Cost has become a criteria for these transactional clients even as much as industry expertise, which is also an important element when a client is choosing counsel for a particular deal.”

He added that some of the firm’s corporate clients are seeking caps on some aspects of their transactions and they are cutting back in non-critical steps in a case’s due diligence that help raise costs.

Stein said it was too soon to tell if clients are feeling the budget pinch enough to ask for alternative fee arrangements.

“It all depends on the client, but I think it’s sort of intuitive that as economic conditions get tighter, that sort of scrutiny around costs and rates will continue to increase. That presents opportunities for a firm like ours.”

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