At a time when clients are demanding maximum value for what they pay for legal services, many partners in BigLaw are finding it challenging to deliver.

In a recent interview with Law360, Pryor Cashman Managing Partner Ronald Shechtman discussed how these demands have led to a shift in the legal market. “There’s been a real change in terms of the work that’s becoming available to the mid-sized market, due to the increasingly value-driven client base that exists now,” he said, adding that a number of partners have left large law firms for smaller ones after clients pushed back against BigLaw billing rates.

Consequently, Shechtman said he’s “never seen more laterals of higher quality and greater originations than we’re seeing now. I think the inflation in hourly rates has made it really hard for some to grow a practice or sustain a practice in much of BigLaw.”

As an example, Shechtman told Law360 about a recent lateral hire who joined the firm, bringing a book of business valued between $500,000 and $1,000,000. The attorney initially accepted an offer from a large California-based firm, but two years after joining reached out to Shechtman to pick up a discussion of lateralling to Pryor Cashman.

The attorney explained that at his new firm, he’d worked on, but lost, a deal for an underwriter who had been a good source of business because of inefficiencies and red tape at the firm. “The client was exasperated and pissed off and the business had been threatened,” Shechtman relayed. “The problem is, a firm that size is not very much interested in supporting someone building a practice at the level he was at.” As a result, the attorney ended up joining Pryor Cashman.

To read the full Law360 interview, please click here.