Featured Article
Is the American Legal Profession a Guild?
This is one in our occasional series of excerpts from my yet-to-be-published new book, treating, among other things, the historic roots of our profession tracing back to medieval guilds. I hope you enjoy, and, more importantly, that you provide any feedback,... read more +No, Your Eyes Do Not Deceive You
"Adam Smith, Esq." has been invited to join American Lawyer Media's "Legal Blog Network," and I have accepted. The other half-dozen-plus members of the network are all people I know personally or through email and the quality of their blogs...
The Care and Feeding of Laterals
To risk stating the obvious, a major downside of acquiring powerful lateral partners or small groups thereof is that they will not stay. Now The American Lawyer has a piece covering the story of same over the past five years or so, complete with a helpful and...
“Why Law Firms Should Not Be Ranked Based on Profits Per Partner” Agree or Disagree
I believe this is a first, but I'm about to quote an astute and interested UK reader's unsolicited, over-the-transom "letter to 'Adam Smith, Esq.'" in its entirety. At first I thought I could edit it gracefully for concision, but upon attempting to do...
Four Powerful New Capabilities: Adapt or….
Yesterday's post about the Hildebrandt/Citigroup annual 2004 recap said nothing about a topic they dwelt on which I deemed sufficiently distinct and newsworthy in itself to merit separate commentary. Specifically, they cited four developments in firm structure and...
2004 in Review and a Wild Card for 2005
Hildebrandt and The Law Firm Group of the Citigroup Private Bank, with help from Baker-Robbins, are out with their 2004 year-in-review together with some prognostications for 2005. The New York Times, in its wisdom, headlined the story, "Partnerships More...