Only a handful of partners, perhaps, in arcane specialty areas

A belief that animates many convergence programs is that a large number of law firms and partners can handle much of the legal work. That belief in fungibility s generally well-founded. It is a different matter if the area of law is specialized.

“Specialists for international industrial insurance and reinsurance law across different lines of business (property, casualty and engineering) are extremely difficult to find.” This observation, from a poll in 2004 of companies around the world in those industries, cited in Reactions, May 2004 at 3 brings home the point (See my post of Feb. 12, 2006 about how hard it is to find acceptable law firms in some countries.). Sometimes it’s a seller’s market.