The Next Recession Will Favor ‘Disciplined’ Midsize Firms

This article discusses law firms and the Great Recession, 10 years later. As seen in this article, “R. Max Crane, managing partner of 130-lawyer Sills Cummis & Gross in Newark, New Jersey, said firm leaders have a responsibility to manage their businesses with the recognition that another recession is always somewhere on the horizon.

“Crane said his firm has been on a sustained upswing recently, with new business coming in, lawyers working ‘at or near capacity’ and high morale at the office. Despite that, when it comes to the next economic downturn, ‘I always assume it’s going to be tomorrow,’ he said.

“‘Part of my job is to say, ‘slow down,” Crane said. ‘Law business, like other business, goes in cycles…The real test, the real mettle of a firm, is what you do in difficult times.’”