LEGAL ROUNDTABLE.

• Position: Discussion

Every month, Utah Business partners with Holland & Hart and Big-D Construction to host roundtable events featuring industry insiders. This month we invited legal specialists to discuss diversity in the legal profession, technology, and work-life balance. Moderated by Robert W. Adler, dean of the S.J. Quinney College of Law, here are a few highlights from the event.

WHAT DO YOU ANTICIPATE IN TERMS OF GROWTH IN THE UTAH LEGAL MARKET?

Brian Lebrecht | Shareholder & Director | Clyde Snow & Sessions

While I don't think we're at risk like some other areas, I feel that we're a little more at ? risk than we were the last downturn. The more rapid the growth, the faster the fall. We have some great out-of-state companies coming here, but we don't get the C-suite people. We get the data centers and the call centers, and things like that, which are great for jobs. But those also might be the first things that out-of-state companies pull back on.

Graden Jackson | President | Strong & Hanni

Tech companies tend to look at local firms, and we need to make sure that our host of companies are well-served by the attorneys we have here in those areas. Obviously, when you get to larger deals, IPOs and things like that, you do need larger teams. But Utah does have the expertise needed to do a lot of the smaller financing deals.

Keven Rowe | President | Jones Waldo

We have a great legal market and community in Utah. And we have a lot of sophisticated folks that do great work. But in the national economy, there's a stratosphere of branding with respect to law firms. If you are doing a major transaction, you're going to be much more comfortable using a brand name if there's a national issue, that's just the reality of the market.

WHAT'S IN THE FUTURE FOR YOUR FIRMS?

Matt Moscon | Office Managing Partner | Stoel Rives

Our Bar is really at a crossroads. There's kind of a changing of the guard. Five years ago, you would have thought, "well, I'm going to keep practicing wherever." We're now getting to a time where that group is phasing out. The 1980s saw a huge influx of lawyers, that group are now in their 60s and 70s and so we're seeing growth because we've got so many retirements.

Lee A. Wright | President | Kirton McConkie

Succession planning is a big part of what we're doing. But an interesting phenomenon I've seen is that the baby boomers don't want to phase out. They hang on, and so understanding when they are going to stop their practice and planning for that and making sure that the relationships are there with the younger attorneys is key to maintaining the clients and keeping the clients happy.

WHERE DOES THAT LEAVE YOUR SUCCESSION STRATEGY?

Lee A. Wright | President | Kirton McConkie

Unless the more senior attorneys are involving them early on and giving them significant responsibility. The hope is that they'll pass those things down, that relationships will expand, and that the client is not hiring just one senior attorney but is hiring the firm.

Matt Moscon | Office Managing Partner | Stoel Rives

The other answer to that, is that in this new tech economy, many of us have clients with CEOs that are 24 years old, and I think that leaves a lot of opportunities for younger attorneys to connect with people that they relate to.

HOW IS TECHNOLOGY AFFECTING YOUR PRACTICE?

Jonathan Hafen | Attorney | Parr Brown

Al is very important for access to justice. Justice Simona has been doing some public scripts and what they're looking at doing now is backing off on some of the rules of professional conduct with respect to ownership of law firms to allow tech companies to get involved with law firms...