Big Law Banker Sees ‘Mood Shift’ as Market Rebound Hopes Delayed

The US legal industry was already in a tough spot before President Donald Trump started attacking Big Law firms.

Gloomy economic conditions and tariff-related uncertainty quickly tanked law firm leaders’ expectations for a rebound that followed Trump’s election. They’re looking to stay off the president’s target list in a wave of executive orders, while navigating a slowdown in deals activity and across practice groups.

“From cautiously optimistic to cautious.” That’s how Gretta Rusanow described the mood shift she’s seen in recent weeks among managing partners at some of the country’s biggest law firms.

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Rusanow, the leader of Citigroup’s law firm advisory group, says firms are feeling much more bearish now than at the end of last year. There’s potential for an economic contraction, she says, and the fact that the huge revenue growth of prior years is now looking more like an aberration. Even as the country’s elite firms come off of a record year for revenue and profits.

Rusanow joins our podcast, On The Merits, to talk about why 2025 likely won’t see the industry outperform its average growth numbers. She also tells Bloomberg Law reporter Roy Strom that any overachieving that does happen this year will likely flow toward just a handful of the largest firms.

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