Wells
Fargo’s
Legal
Specialty
Group
dropped
its
Q1
2026
survey
this
week,
and
everyone’s
giddy
over
the
headline
numbers.
Revenues
are
up
13.1
percent,
a
byproduct
of
jacking
up
billing
rates
up
a
staggering
11.4
percent.
It
seems
the
only
commodity
costlier
than
crude
oil
in
Q1
was
a
midlevel
associate’s
attention
to
detail.
Demand
also
creeped
up
4.5
percent
as
corporate
America
found
itself
in
need
of
more
legal
advice.
But,
it
seems,
corporate
America
also
found
itself
less
interested
in
actually
paying
its
bills.
Inventories
grew
rapidly
for
the
Am
Law
200,
but
the
growth
was
not
uniform,
with
inventory
growing
much
faster
for
the
Am
Law
50
(up
19%)
than
for
the
other
tiers
(11%
for
the
Second
Fifty
and
12%
for
the
Second
Hundred).
With
inventory
growing
faster
than
revenue,
the
inventory
collection
cycle
(number
of
days
it
takes
to
collect
fees
once
work
is
performed)
slowed
by
6.5
days
(3.4%),
with
nearly
all
the
slowdown
occurring
at
the
top
of
the
market.
This
was
a
marked
change
from
this
time
last
year
when
inventories
grew
in
line
with
collections.
The
Trump
era
is
in
full
swing.
The
president
notoriously
spent
his
long
business
career
stiffing
his
vendors,
including
—
and
especially
—
his
attorneys.
He’s
sitting
on
top
of
over
a
million
in
unpaid
legal
fees
right
now.
He
used
to
be
a
model
of
bad
behavior,
but
maybe
the
rest
of
the
business
world
decided
he
was
onto
something.
“All
the
big
AI
firms
are
in
the
process
of
going
through
an
IPO
and
there
are
a
ton
of
other
deals
taking
place
—
data
centers
and
infrastructure
work,”
Wells
Fargo’s
Owen
Burman
told
Bloomberg
Law
News.
“There’s
a
lot
of
work
that
hasn’t
been
collected
on
yet.”
Well,
that’s
what
happens
when
the
industry
propping
up
the
whole
economy
is
just
a
bundle
of
IOUs
passed
back
and
forth
between
NVIDIA,
OpenAI,
and
Oracle
in
an
ouroboros
of
hype.
It’s
just
a
matter
of
time
before
they
ask
the
law
firm
to
send
them
$20
million
so
they
can
pay
the
law
firm
back
$20
million
—
a
stupid
proposition,
but
somehow
EXACTLY
HOW
THE
REST
OF
THE
AI
INDUSTRY
RUNS.
And
getting
the
data
center
deals
done
is
not
the
same
as
having
data
centers.
From
Ed
Zitron:
Of
the
114GW
of
data
centers
supposedly
being
built
by
the
end
of
2028, only
15.2GW
is
under
construction
in
any
way,
shape,
or
form.
And
“under
construction”
can
mean
as
little
as
“there’s
a
hole
in
the
ground.”
It
does
not
—
and
should
not
—
imply
that
the
capacity
that
said
facility
will
provide
is
going
to
be
imminently
available.
In
other
words,
expect
the
collection
cycle
to
keep
slipping.
But,
hey,
bankruptcy
work
is
right
around
the
corner!
That’s
exciting,
right?
Joe
Patrice is
a
senior
editor
at
Above
the
Law
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
Feel
free
to email
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments.
Follow
him
on Twitter or
Bluesky
if
you’re
interested
in
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and
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college
sports
news.
Joe
also
serves
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Managing
Director
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Search.