Law360 spoke with Finnegan managing partner Mark Sweet and chair James Monroe about how the firm is adapting to the changing legal industry and the challenges they face in operating a large law firm in today's legal market.
Mark said, "One of the biggest challenges that we have right now is ever-increasing competition. For our firm in particular, since all we focus on is IP, we have competition really from all sides. From other big law firms for litigation matters, and from some smaller law firms for some of the prosecution work we do, and anything in between." James added, "The biggest [challenge] is in evolving how you run a firm, the technologies that are needed to run a firm profitably, and, what are the services our clients need? Some firms like us are ahead of the game on that issue and others are having issues trying to evolve and adapt."
The leaders went on the discuss important traits of a law firm partner, mistakes junior attorneys make early in their careers, and where they see the firm in five years. Mark said, "I see us in five years as still remaining an IP-only powerhouse. We continue to have that as our vision. That's what we're known for and that's our expertise. James said, "In 2015, we celebrated our 50th anniversary, and the whole theme of it was continuing to be who we were at the beginning. In comparison to a lot of firms, our goal is not to develop new practices, lateral in people and grow for growth's sake. In five years, I think we will have grown, but I think it will be an internal increase in growth of attorneys coming up."
