Phoenix has become the next hotspot of legal expansion. Several large national firms are entering the market there, taking advantage of the thriving hospitality, real estate, construction, aerospace and electronics industries. As the fifth largest city in the U.S., Phoenix has the fastest growing population of any major U.S. city. Some of the firms that have opened in Phoenix include Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, DLA Piper, Ford & Harrison, and Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll. The entrance of these firms into the market has created pressure on the smaller local firms; Squire, Sanders & Dempsey and Fennemore Craig, for example, have lost several attorneys to incoming national firms. In fact, some long-standing Phoenix firms have actually been losing lawyers for the past five or six years. For those new firms coming into the market, they will find that it is not so easy to break into. The legal community is very tight knit, and it is not certain that the economy will be able to sustain a major push from other firms.
Source: www.law.com