Federal Circuit Judge Dyk Has Big Reservations About Big Law

US Federal Circuit Judge Timothy B. Dyk is concerned that the pressures of Big Law life are draining the joy and purpose out of legal practice—and potentially hurting the quality of representation.

The appellate judge and former Jones Day partner, whose memoir “The Education of a Federal Judge” was published in October, told Bloomberg Law in an exclusive interview that he’s watched the legal world morph from a collection of boutique firms specializing in issues like patent litigation into centralized businesses that cover a litany of practice areas.

During his more than two decades on the nation’s top patent court, ...