So far, public listings of securities by law firms has not caught on despite the first law firm (Australia’s Slater & Gordon) listing about a year ago. The legal practice regulations in most jurisdictions do not permit law firms to either take a corporate form or to issue its securities to the public. But, if law firms are permitted to go public, and indeed if they do so, they would be subject to the same disclosure regulations as any other publicly listed companies are.
This is likely to result in some interesting situations when it comes to disclosures by law firms as David Lat’s article in The New York Observer points out. The article’s hypothetical press release and disclosure containing the quarterly results of a publicly traded law firm adds a lot of humour to the tale!
