CW-Nelson-Mullins-RFP-Response

APPENDIX C LAW FIRM BENCHMARKING

Firms are continually seeking creative ways to structure fees as well as leverage client services and talent to maintain their competitive stance. Evaluating how real estate components affect profitability, overall operations and client support, as well as the generations of lawyers that work within a law firm are just some key drivers in today’s decision making. In response to these challenges, C&W’s Legal Sector Advisory Group developed its proprietary National Legal Sector Benchmark Survey. Since 2013, over 2,000 decision- making representatives of law firms across the globe have responded to the survey, providing key insights, statistics and trends about the business, financial and operational drivers affecting the legal sector. The results of the latest National Legal Sector Benchmark Survey were released in May 2018, with over 300 law firm professionals participating.

In addition, in 2014 LSAG developed a first-ever survey focused on the concerns and challenges facing today’s associates. The results of our Associate Survey, included within the National Legal Sector Benchmark Survey Results, provide invaluable insight into the priorities of associates and how the next generation of attorneys view the industry and its future. During the development of the first survey, Cushman & Wakefield hosted five national roundtable discussions with over 100 key law firm decision-makers throughout the United States, many of them representing global and national law firms. These sessions, led by LSAG leader Sherry Cushman, focused on the key drivers, as well as potential future trends within the legal sector. The potential developments discussed within the roundtables are included in a “Future Trends” section within the survey and continue to be tracked. The survey and roundtable series are a first for the real estate industry, and the results will provide NMRS with the most current benchmarks and statistics available to assist in education, thought leadership, and consensus- building. Key issues related to legal sector, including workplace strategies, support ratios, office sizes, sharing of offices, potential hoteling and virtual officing, as well as business competition, recruiting and retention, succession planning, technology costs, real estate as a percentage of annual revenue, and depreciation, are the focus of C&W’s national survey.

Legal Sector Advisory Group | ADVISING FOR EXCELLENCE 65

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