Industry Pressures Led to Sedgwick’s Collapse

Big Law firm collapses like Sedgwick’s recent demise are still rare enough that lawyers immediately try to puzzle out whether the firm was an outlier or the leading edge of a wave of failed legal entities that were too battered to survive the industry’s jarring changes.

Colliding forces in the legal industry—from lower hourly rates to fierce competition to attract and keep clients—helped fell San Francisco-based law firm Sedgwick, which announced it would close shop more than eight decades after its founding.

The venerable firm’s cratering followed a series of partner departures and a marked decline in its revenues. Even ...