Fee Bargain Law firm mergers may give you more room to negotiate legal fees.

It's a hard fact of the soft economy: Law firms arestruggling to survive with fewer clients and increasing operationalcosts.

Some are merging to stay competitive. Consulting firmHildebrandt calculated 53 law firm mergers in 2002, compared to 11mergers in 1997. Others are collapsing under the pressure. Brobeck,Phleger & Harrison, a San Francisco firm that soaredrepresenting technology clients during the boom, ceased operationsin January, laying off all 518 attorneys amid staggering debt andstalled merger talks.

But won't fewer law firms mean higher fees and lesspersonalized service for small businesses? Far from being edgedout, the legal profession's woes could be your gain, saysLarraine Segil, a former attorney and co-founder of The Lared Group, aLos Angeles consulting company she founded with Emilio Fontana.Segil predicts attorneys will leave merged and troubled firms overthe next two years to set up their own practices. "It'salready happening," she says.