On Being a Corporate Lawyer

Posted by the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance & Financial Regulation, on
Monday, February 11, 2008
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On Monday February 4, HLS Professor John C. Coates IV delivered his inaugural lecture “On Being a Corporate Lawyer” on the occasion of his appointment as the John F. Cogan, Jr. Professor of Law and Economics.

Coates’ lecture surveyed recent trends in corporate law practice—the field, he said, which continues to draw the majority of graduates of top schools. He noted that the leading corporate law firms have remained relatively stable and free from the kind of volatility seen in the investment banking sector over the past several decades, citing major banks that have vanished or been displaced. But, he said, some important changes are nevertheless on the way. Among them:

  • market forces will drive up the price for top-end corporate legal work;
  • law firms will increasingly develop new ways to structure their compensation for corporate deals, and they will rely less on the billable hour method, which does not accurately reflect the value that lawyers bring to major transactions;
  • law firm demand for top-quality entry-level corporate lawyers will intensify; one of the effects will be a corresponding spike in competition among law schools for corporate law professors, especially through lateral hiring.

    • Click here for a webcast of this event.


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