by Bruce | October 5, 2023 | Articles, Business Models, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Partnership Structures, Strategy
“Ripped from the headlines,” as the cliche-inclined might say, we have this from The American Lawyer in the past week or so: Elite Firms Revisit Comp Formulas as Star Talent Has ‘Extraordinary Leverage’ Some highlights: According to Kent Zimmerman over...
by Bruce | August 23, 2023 | Articles, Business Models, Finance, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy
The following article is by Janet Stanton, Partner, Adam Smith, Esq. LLC. Quite simply, our reason for exploring the non-equity tier is that (a) there has been explosive growth in that cohort and (b) we’ve not seen recent, comprehensive examination of this phenomenon....
by Bruce | July 16, 2023 | Articles, Branding, Business Models, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Strategic Client Management, Strategy
It has been four years since we initially published our series laying out a law firm market segmentation model we called the “Maroons & The Grays,”[1] and four years on is none too soon for an update. No model is, or should be, static, and as we have worked with...
by Bruce | June 20, 2023 | Articles, Branding, Business Models, Client Relationships, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Recruiting, Strategic Client Management, Strategy
Something that feels structurally different seems to have developed in the lateral market. The ambition of this essay is to describe what we think it is, why it has developed, and what it portends for the future of BigLaw. Plus, with any luck, some ideas or at least...
by Bruce | May 23, 2023 | Articles, Business Models, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Practice Group Management, Recruiting, Strategic Client Management, Strategy
The first truly evil character to appear in Scripture is of course the Snake in the Garden of Good and Evil. Not a nice guy, not someone you’d want to emulate, not a role model: The Snake of all Snakes at the coulda-been Eternal Garden Party, harbinger of bad...
by Bruce | April 13, 2023 | Articles, Business Models, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Just Plain Interesting, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy, Technology strategy
Jamie Dimon’s annual letter to shareholders, which comes out as part of the JP Morgan Chase annual report, was published about two weeks ago. At 42 pages, it takes more than a passing skim-over to digest, but. It is almost universally read among business leaders, and...
