Fannie Mae GC: The Law Firm Profit Structure Is Broken

How do you fix the law firm profit structure while keeping in-house clients happy? Fannie Mae’s GC has some ideas:

“Before he was hiring law firms, Fannie Mae’s General Counsel Brian Brooks was helping run one — from 2008 to 2011, he served as managing partner in O’Melveny & Meyers’ Washington, D.C., office….Brooks argues that, because clients increasingly refuse to pay for expensive associate work, the law firm profit model — which depends on “leverage,” or the difference between associate and partner hours on a matter — is broken.”

Read: Fannie Mae GC: The Law Firm Profit Structure Is Broken at Bloomberg BNA Business of Law