Law.com - Dewey Raises $125 Million in Bond Offering

Law.com - Dewey Raises $125 Million in Bond Offering
While this article might appear off-topic at first, Dewey's efforts are moving things closer to what has already happened in Australia where a law firm has had a public offering. Dewey's efforts to sell its debt, as compared to ownership interests, nevertheless can provide relevant information about the appetite for the public financing of US law firms. True that the purchasers of Dewey's debt appear to be a small number of insurance companies, which could also be read as sophisticated investors, this is most probably a first step towards more aggressive offerings to come.

As foreign law firms pursue more creative ways to finance their activities, it is going to be necessary for US law firms to pursue similar options, if they want to keep pace with their foreign competitors. One option would be, of course, for US law firms to move off-shore, in whole or in part, to jurisdictions which allow greater flexibility in financing options. Should this start to occur in large numbers, it will behove US law firm regulators to move quickly to provide similar options. Otherwise, there may be a departure of some of the larger globally focused law firms that are now managed from the US.