Featured Article
Scale Matters
In the past we have written that for law firms scale—number of partners and total lawyers, number of offices, total revenue, &c.—doesn’t really matter. The distinctions that clients care about center around specific domain/practice area expertise, track record, a... read more +Single Tier is Dead: Long Live Single Tier
Comes word that Cleary Gottlieb is abandoning its increasingly rarefied “single tier” status and will begin naming Non Equity Partners “with immediate effect.” The intrepid Roy Strom of Bloomberg Law has the story: Cleary recognizes the “innovation and adaptation”...
The Billable Hour and [vs.?] Pricing AI-Driven Legal Services
A few weeks ago, we raised the topic with our friends at Thomson Reuters Legal Practice Management about what the consequences of a widespread deployment of Generative AI might portend for--you guessed it--the business of law firms, and in short order the conversation...
The Fable of Starbucks
Few brands are more prominent in our daily lives (well, at least if you're a Western world urban dweller) than Starbucks. Its rise to prominence has become standard-issue corporate lore: From its single Seattle store founding in 1971 to Howard Schultz's acquiring it...
The Myth of the “Equity” Partner
This column is by Janet Stanton, Partner, Adam Smith, Esq. Let’s get something straight from the get-go: “Equity” as it is known in Law Land is a chimera. Unlike in the other 98% of the economy, equity in Law Land is an illusion. It has no intrinsic or market value...
Can Something Be Irresistible and Irrational at the Same Time?
As we are all fellow members of the human race, I suspect you would join me in admitting that, yes, certain decisions and behaviors are indeed compelling (irresistible) and irrational (self-defeating from the perspective of the longer view). We may not, indeed should...