In lean times, a lean approach to legal work

When J. Stephen Poor took the reins as chairman of Seyfarth Shaw 14 years ago, a raging legal market made the job of a Big Law boss relatively hands-off.Gross revenues of the AmLaw 200 had grown more than 15 percent each year in 1999 and 2000. And from 2001 through 2007, they would increase by another 5 percent each year.If necessity is the mother of invention, then Poor and his peers could be …