Reality bites, as the biggest Malaysian law firms start rolling out pay-cuts. Even the legal industry, often touted as disaster/recession-proof is hit by this one.

More firms will implement pay-cuts soon. Some small practices may close altogether, or seek mergers to cut costs. Associates/staff can probably forget about generous bonuses, and be happy to keep their jobs.

The legal job market, already hard in recent years, will be vv tough.

The effects should be felt for the rest of 2020. Many firms are now preparing for that with these cost cuts. Because in April we are realistically still collecting Jan/Feb billings. The lockdown in Mar/Apr/May will be felt hardest in Jun-Nov.

We can already see a bit of the desperation of many lawyers by the social media marketing -- everyone is now an expert in everything; whatever pays the bills. But with intense competition comes the temptation to join the race to the bottom; the lowest fees secures the work.

But grabbing work at the lowest fees is not always the best medium-term strategy. I've always believed in quality over quantity. But not all firms will have the luxury of sticking to their ideals; overheads have to be covered.

It'll be an interesting time to observe the business strategies of different law firms. The ideal position is to make decisions based on where the firm wants to be at Dec 2021, not Jan 2021.

But, again, it's not easy to tune strategy for that timeline in survival mode.

As an aside, I think the coming months are actually the perfect time to launch a new law firm, with the right strategy. :P @iMleesh