The Law Firm Group at Citi Private Bank and Hildebrandt Consulting today released their Citi Hildebrandt 2017 Client Advisory.

The Citi Hildebrandt Client Advisory outlines the current landscape for the legal industry, how law firms are responding to these conditions and their best opportunities for growth in the year ahead. Based on the data compiled in this year’s advisory, 2017 will likely be another year of modest industry growth in an uncertain and fragile global economy and market for law firm services.

“We anticipate seeing continued dispersion and volatility in the performance of individual firms, in line with what we have observed during the post-recession years. To succeed, firms will need visionary leadership, a high-caliber management team, and each partner’s commitment to hard work and profitability. The most successful firms will focus on adapting their business, leverage and partnership models to operate more efficiently and grow revenue under these challenging market conditions,” said Gretta Rusanow, head of Advisory Services, Law Firm Group, Citi Private Bank.

Brad Hildebrandt, Chairman of Hildebrandt Consulting, goes on to note, “It is essential now more than ever for firms to build a differentiated brand if they want to see revenue growth. Brand differentiation will come from being the market leader in specific practices and industries.”

“In a market where clients want the most efficient delivery of legal services, the market will reward law firms who focus on operational efficiency in its broadest sense – not just managing expenses, but transforming the way they run their firms and deliver legal services,” said Dan DiPietro, Chairman, Law Firm Group, Citi Private Bank.

The Citi Hildebrandt 2017 Client Advisory draws from data collected from a sampling of primarily US-headquartered law firms by Citi Private Bank and Peer Monitor, as well as conversations with leaders of law firms headquartered around the world. For firms headquartered outside the US and third-party providers of legal services, the information is mostly anecdotal. Sources include the “Citi Annual Survey Database” of 205 US-headquartered firms, including 41 Am Law 1-50 firms, 35 Am Law 51-100 firms, 53 Am Law 2nd 100 firms, and 76 additional firms; the “Citi Flash Survey,” including 41 Am Law 1-50 firms, 38 Am Law 51-100 firms, 52 Am Law 2nd 100 firms and 57 additional firms; the “2016 Citi Law Firm Leaders Survey” of 51 large firms headquartered in the US, UK, Australia and India; and “Thomson Reuters Peer Monitor” data of 165 U.S.-based law firms, including 55 Am Law 100 firms, 45 Am Law 2nd 100 firms, and 65 additional firms.

About Citi

Citi Private Bank’s Law Firm Group provides financial services to more than 650 U.S. and U.K. law firms and more than 38,000 individual lawyers, with over 200 professionals and local service teams in 14 offices. Each quarter, the Law Firm Group confidentially surveys firms in The Am Law 100 and Second Hundred, along with smaller firms. In addition, we conduct a more detailed annual survey. These reports, together with extensive discussions with law firm management conducted on an ongoing basis, provide a comprehensive overview of financial trends in the industry and insight into where it is headed.

Citi Private Bank is a part of Citi, the leading global financial services company, which has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management. Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com | Twitter: @Citi | YouTube: www.youtube.com/citi | Blog: http://new.citi.com| Facebook: www.facebook.com/citi | LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/citi

Hildebrandt Consulting is continuing its long and distinguished history as the preeminent global consulting firm in the legal profession. With clients in over 15 countries, Hildebrandt has built up unmatched expertise in every aspect of professional firm management. Our reputation for helping firms arrive at strategic solutions comes from our knowledge of the interdependent elements that contribute to overall business performance.