There's news of the new Survey of Law Firm Economics ($1,600) at the National Law Journal. I'm betting most of our readers will check out the free story rather than buy the study.
The lede: "The revenue picture for law firms in 2012 was bright for large law firms — and bleak for smaller shops." Revenues at big firms was up 8.5%. According to Peter Zeughauser, the larger firms have been managing more aggressively: "The survey results indicate a "recovering economy that is tolerating some rate increases," law firm consultant Peter Zeughauser said. Large law firms have become "more tightly managed," partly through layoffs of underperforming attorneys, he added." Smaller firms cater to small clients and revenues there fell 8%. I've been told, anecdotally, that some mid-tier firms have been surprised to see big firms chasing down-market business that big firms traditionally eschewed. Maybe that explains some of what's going on.
As of about a year ago, we were seeing an increasing segmentation among large and mid-tier firms and more variability in their economic performance, as economics continued to effect changes on a legal profession that was increasingly vulnerable to market forces. My sense is that the market continues to drive the changes and that the firm's won't regain all of their power over price even after the macro-economic cycle picks up again. Here's a graphic about the mid-tier firms from Jim Jones at Legal Management Resources. There has been a similar trend among the large firms.
[edited since posting]