If I had to guess, I would assume that most of my fellow small and midsize law firm lawyers have thought about advantages in much larger firms that they might be missing out on. Those perceived pluses might include being able to market your global scope to clients, being part of a firm with a depth of expertise in whatever subspecialty is needed, having staffing capabilities to handle larger matters, or, perhaps, having access to more sophisticated management tools and expertise because the costs are distributed over a much larger number of lawyers. And, of course, being the recipient of inbound referrals from a group that may comprise 1,000+ lawyers.
But large firms can’t always deliver on these promises. With the exception of a relatively small number of firms around the world, most large practices can’t deliver as much as they want in these areas. They don’t have offices in every country where their clients need representation. They don’t have experts in every specialty a client needs. They’re not getting the amount of inbound referral work they’re seeking.