by Bruce | November 21, 2004 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Marketing, Technology strategy
Is CRM [Customer Relationship Management software] a bridge too far for a firm? This question is probably a tar pit from which one cannot emerge unsullied with a single, unitary correct answer, but as both the power of CRM applications and the competitiveness of...
by Bruce | November 19, 2004 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Strategy
It has long seemed to me that the corporate-land debate over whether the CEO and the Chairman should be one person or two mirrors the law-land debate over the relationship between the Executive Director (or equivalent) and the Managing Partner. On the premise...
by Bruce | November 19, 2004 | About the Site, Articles
With tremendous sadness I report that Janet and I learned yesterday that our 15-1/2 year old short-hair, black & tan, miniature dachshund, Sparky, has cancer. A "mass," as the vet diplomatically put it, about the size of a lemon on the X-ray, at...
by Bruce | November 17, 2004 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Leadership, Strategy, Technology strategy
A trend emerging, I believe, from the competitive landscape is that the AmLaw 100 are "pulling away," competitively, from the AmLaw 101-200. So when a star among the "second 100," like Boies-Schiller, misses a calendar deadline that goes all...
by Bruce | November 15, 2004 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Knowledge Management, Leadership, Strategy, Technology strategy
The Holy Grail of assembling the most potent and effective team for a client matter is, simply put, to have the right people in the right place at the right time. Wal-Mart (and other companies like Toyota) have achieved this with inventory and supplies; what...
by Bruce | November 12, 2004 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Knowledge Management, Technology strategy
A theme of this blog is that the "default" approach to issues in law firm management should be that much can be learned from the enormous literature on corporate management. In other words, barring unusual circumstances unique to the profession (which...