Last week we discussed the emergence of alternative legal service providers and their impact on law firms in the years since the 2008 economic downturn. Firms and lawyers who have succeeded in this time period, particularly in non-litigation, transactional and patent law practices have found ways to work within the framework of their corporate clients. It makes sense to look at trends in the legal market from the perspective of general counsel, which according to ALM Intelligence:

TechCrunch reported this week that Atrium LTS (Legal Technology Services), which bills itself as a corporate law firm, laid-off most of its lawyers, becoming the first “corporate law firm” with no actual lawyers. This would seem to be a surprising turn of events.

Client reaction to Atrium's decision to lay-off legal staff has been definitive.

The 19th century 20’s brought in the first industrial revolution with powered looms and steam powered railroads. The 20th century’s 20’s were roaring, an age of prosperity that ushered in widespread use of automobiles, telephones, movies, radio, electrical appliances, and air travel.