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The 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics Goes To…..
The Nobel in Econ (a/k/a The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel) for 2024 was awarded a few days ago to Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson of MIT and to James Robinson of the University of Chicago. Here at Adam Smith, Esq., we try to... read more +Why Aren’t Law Firms Bought & Sold?
One thing you can count on when two law firms merge is that neither one buys the other. I use "buy" in its simple and core sense: Nothing is obtained in exchange for payment. No cash changes hands; no stock is exchanged, no assets are purchased or liabilities...
Telling Stories
Psychologists call us humans, among other things, "meaning-making machines." We're always looking for the reason why, the cause for the effect, the coherent narrative that pulls it all together and ties it up neatly. So far so good, but of course we can get carried...
Who’s in Your Competitive Set?
We often ask law firms, "Who's your competition?" The single most frequent response we get is, "Well, no one, really." This is delusion on stilts. Every business, I would venture to extend that to any human organization, has competition, and it has nothing to do with...
It’s [Not] The Economy, Stupid
It can be easy to remember the past Golden Era for BigLaw: Say, the decade preceding the 2008 Great Financial Meltdown. And you would not be wrong to recall it that way. No indulgence in nostalgia is required; that decade constituted an unheard-of run of economic...
Summer Reading List
In the spirit of reader service, for those of you who might find the summer season has graced you with a bit more leisure time than usual, and on the hunt for a good book, your editor (that would be me) will list and briefly describe what I have been or am reading...
