Has the juice been squeezed from BigLaw’s business model?

Central to the profitability of the ‘BigLaw’ business model is how rainmaking equity partners, i.e. the owners, win work for the firm and enlist other fee-earners to do the bulk of this work. Since the 1950s, this model has been hugely successful, both in serving clients and making a great deal of money for owners. However, the capacity to exploit this business model has a ceiling; and this appears to be fast approaching.