LFFI Q2 2026: Index Climbs, but Midsize Gap Widens

The Thomson Reuters Law Firm Financial Index (LFFI) accelerated in Q2 2026, rising meaningfully from Q1's middling reading as worked rates reached levels that, in the words of the report, "would have looked implausible just a few years ago." Overall demand held at a pace that — if sustained — would make 2026 the strongest year for demand since 2021's post-COVID bounce-back. The distribution of that demand is increasingly uneven: associate demand rose solidly and non-equity partner demand grew even faster, with those two tiers absorbing most of the incremental workload; equity partner demand, by contrast, declined. The most important structural read from Q2 is that profit grew faster than revenue across all segments — Am Law 100, Second Hundred, and Midsize — but the absolute operating leverage available to Midsize firms remains far below their Am Law peers, making the current environment strategically advantageous primarily for large-platform firms.