As my colleagues and I talk to leaders about their law firm’s 2022 performance, these conversations have been forward looking as much as backward looking. Specifically, everyone’s trying to make sense of where the broader economy is headed and is doing so with some level of unease.

We’re not the only ones hearing that. “Most firm leaders I have spoken with said 2023 will be the most challenging year since the pandemic started,” Zeughauser Group consultant Kent Zimmermann told my colleagues earlier this month.