NEW YORK, Dec 14, 2017 (BUSINESS WIRE) —
The Law Firm Group at Citi Private Bank and Hildebrandt Consulting today
released their 2018 Citi Hildebrandt Client Advisory.
The Citi Hildebrandt Client Advisory establishes the broad landscape for
the law firm industry, how firms are responding to industry challenges,
and their best opportunities for growth in 2018. The report forecasts
overall industry revenue and profitability growth rates in 2018 to be in
line with the mid-single-digit range expected for 2017, with continued
high levels of dispersion and volatility.
The 2018 Client Advisory strongly indicates that the way firms adapt
their talent models in response to market pressures for more efficient
legal services, and the onslaught of equity partner retirements likely
to occur in coming years, will be an important factor in the growth
trajectory and sustainability of law firms across the industry.
“There is no doubt that the market will continue to favor firms with a
strong brand in specific practice areas and industries. Beyond
maintaining a strong brand, success in this market will likely come to
firms who are most nimble in their response to client demands for a more
efficient delivery of legal services. In the long-term, success will
likely come to firms who adjust their talent models to market forces and
who focus on building a robust growth model that attracts, develops, and
retains the best legal talent,” said Gretta Rusanow, Head of Advisory
Services, Law Firm Group at Citi Private Bank.
An additional key finding from this year’s Client Advisory is the ever
increasing role of technology. Citi’s Law Firm Group concludes that
technology, including AI, will help reshape the law firm industry.
Hildebrandt Consulting also concurs that while the possibility of a
cybersecurity breach (and the associated reputational and financial
risks) has rapidly become one of the biggest concerns of law firms
today, firms who harness the emerging technologies and who focus on
protecting their clients and themselves from cybersecurity breaches will
be even stronger in the future.
Brad Hildebrandt, Chairman of Hildebrandt Consulting, added, “Despite
the challenges outlined in this Client Advisory, we believe that the law
firm industry will continue to grow, albeit modestly. It remains one of
the most profitable personal services businesses in the world. That
said, we expect to see further consolidation and some law firm
dissolutions as weaker firms lose their ability to compete.”
The 2018 Citi Hildebrandt Client Advisory draws from data collected from
a sampling of primarily US-headquartered law firms by Citi Private Bank.
For firms headquartered outside the US and third-party providers of
legal services, the information is mostly anecdotal. For third-party
providers of legal services, our information is mostly anecdotal.
Sources include the “Citi Annual Survey Database” of 193
US-headquartered firms, including 44 Am Law 1-50 firms, 34 Am Law 51-100
firms, 47 Am Law 2nd 100 firms, and 68 additional firms; the “Citi Flash
Survey”, including 40 Am Law 1-50 firms, 29 Am Law 51-100 firms, 47 Am
Law 2nd 100 firms and 45 additional firms; the “Citi Law Firm Leaders
Survey” of 55 large firms headquartered in the US, UK, Australia, China
and India; and the “Law Firm Leaders Confidence Index,” which reports
the forward-looking opinions of law firm leaders from 154
US-headquartered firms.
About Citi
Citi Private Bank’s Law Firm Group provides financial services to more
than 650 U.S. and U.K. law firms and more than 38,000 individual
lawyers, with over 200 professionals and local service teams in 14
offices. Each quarter, the Law Firm Group confidentially surveys firms
in The Am Law 100 and Second Hundred, along with smaller firms. The
group additionally conducts a more detailed annual survey. These
reports, together with extensive discussions with law firm management
conducted on an ongoing basis, provide a comprehensive overview of
financial trends in the industry and insight into where it is headed.
Citi Private Bank is dedicated to serving worldly and wealthy
individuals and families, providing customized private banking across
borders. With approximately $390 billion in global assets under
management, the franchise includes 48 offices, serving clients across
130 countries. Citi Private Bank helps clients grow and preserve wealth,
finance assets, make cash work harder, preserve legacies, and serve
family and family business needs. The firm offers clients products and
services covering capital markets, managed investments, portfolio
management, trust and estate planning, investment finance, banking and
aircraft finance, as well as art and sports advisory and finance.
Citi, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million customer
accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions.
Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with
a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer
banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities
brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management.
Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com
| Twitter: @Citi | YouTube: www.youtube.com/citi
| Blog: http://blog.citigroup.com
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| LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/citi.
About Hildebrandt Consulting
Hildebrandt Consulting is continuing its long and distinguished history
as the preeminent global consulting firm in the legal profession. With
clients in over 15 countries, Hildebrandt has built up unmatched
expertise in every aspect of professional firm management. Our
reputation for helping firms arrive at strategic solutions comes from
our knowledge of the interdependent elements that contribute to overall
business performance.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171214005244/en/
SOURCE: Citi
Citi Private Bank
Sophia Stewart, 212-816-7140
Global Public
Affairs
sophia1.stewart@citi.com
Copyright Business Wire 2017