Articles and blog posts have surfaced all over the internet in recent days on this very issue. First, the popular business magazine, The Economist published an article about a change in British law that will allow some law firms to go public. Then, various reactions began to pop up about the possibility of this happening in the US, as well as positive and negative consequences of the notion.

While law firms have high profit margins as well as growth potential, the most prominent downsides to publicly traded law firms are a conflict of interest with clients and management potential. 

Law firm management has always been the job of the managing partners, a public company would demand more scrutiny. Non-lawyers would most likely be brought in to run the firm, thus putting off the managing partners a bit. Costs would be analyzed, instead of the usual revenue building numbers. And law firms would begin to run differently than they have all along. Where it goes from there is nothing more than a guess.

And with a new responsibility to shareholders, what happens to the best interest of the clients. If there is a conflict between a client’s needs and the wishes of majority shareholders, what happens? That is the main reason why the law is in place to keep law firms private. Getting rid of this rule seems like a direct threat to clients of a public law firm. We will see where all of this goes, as it may be a long time coming in the US.