Having worked as a lawyer from 2007 to 2014, I watched the legal landscape change during the Great Recession. Clients realized that firms were having partner-tr

Having worked as a lawyer from 2007 to 2014, I watched the legal landscape change during the Great Recession. Clients realized that firms were having partner-track associates bill thousands of hours on document review, when it could be done more cheaply/efficiently by contract lawyers (who billed at a fraction of the cost, and could be hired on a project basis). Clients pressed for fixed billing arrangements to save money, and law firms obliged because their books of business were shrinking. But then things came roaring back, and the purse strings loosened again. We may be in for another contraction, and if fixed-fee arrangements come back that would be a good thing for legal efficiency.