The Great Step Backward (Into Offices): How AmLaw Firms Keep Opting for the Opposite of Innovation

By Frederick L. Shelton

In 2020, the legal industry was dragged kicking, screaming, and clutching its billable-hour sheets - into the twenty-first century. Forced by circumstance, even the most rigid AmLaw firms discovered that remote work was not only possible, but profitable. Productivity increased, associates were happier, and firms quietly pocketed millions in saved overhead.

So naturally, the Boomers on the Executive Committee are going to eschew innovation and engage in idiocracy. According to Reuters, more BigLaw firms are boosting their in-office mandates in 2025. The same institutions that boast about “innovation” on their websites are now marching backward like legal lemmings, insisting that their attorneys return to the fluorescent-lit, soul-sucking offices that made them so “great” to begin with.

And by great, I mean the documented highest levels of divorce rates, highest rates of depression, highest rates of alcoholism and addiction, and normalized estrangement from progeny.

Meanwhile, other industries i.e. finance, consulting, and even healthcare are doubling down on flexibility. Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan now offer hybrid models for entire divisions. Tech giants like Microsoft and Google allow employees to work from anywhere. Even medicine has evolved, with surgeons are using telemedicine for pre- and post-op consults.

But law firms? They’re acting like it’s 1999, minus the optimism and plus the burnout.

The irony is rich.

They talk about innovation and yet, cling to a system that actively produces the most miserable people at the top of any profession. It’s as if they looked at the data, nodded thoughtfully, and said, “Perfect! Let’s stay toxic!”

At Shelton & Steele, we only work with firms that are genuinely future-focused. Our clients are not eschewing but rather embracing remote lawyering, artificial intelligence, Alternative Business Structures (ABS), and Legal MSO models that reward efficiency, innovation, and balance.

Because the future of law isn’t about more hours in an office, it’s about better outcomes for clients and healthier, happier attorneys.

We’re not chasing the past. We’re change agents for the future.

Frederick Shelton is the CEO of Shelton & Steele. He advises on law firm mergers & acquisitions, Legal MSO and ABS models.