Predictions are dangerous business. Take the question of how big law firms can get. In 1999, Baker McKenzie, the largest firm in The American Lawyer’s Global 100, was home to nearly 2,500 lawyers. In 2009, it continued to employ more lawyers than any other firm in the world, nearly 4,000.
It would have been a fair bet to expect Baker McKenzie to maintain its position in 2019 with steady growth. How could anyone have scaled up quickly enough to displace the firm? And the firm did continue its upward trajectory, growing to 4,700 attorneys in the most recent survey.
