This report on financial performance in the legal industry was prepared by Citi Private Bank’s Law Firm Group.

The optimist and pessimist will each find support in the first half 2015 results: Momentum clearly improved, but overall results fell short of the first half of 2014. The legal industry picked up steam in the second quarter after the slow start to 2015 we reported on three months ago. Revenue growth accelerated due to improved demand, and expense growth slowed, relieving the pressure on margins.