by Bruce | August 18, 2017 | Articles, Business Models, Practice Group Management
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about litigation. It’s been one of the two major locomotives driving revenue and profit for BigLaw for the past 50 years or so–the other being transactional or corporate work–and has customarily provided 25–60%...
by Bruce | August 14, 2017 | Articles, Branding, Business Models, Client Relationships, Marketing, Strategy
The following guest column is by Richard Hinwood, based in London. Richard is the Head of Strategy & Chief of Staff at Withers. As Head of Strategy, Richard leads the formulation and implementation of firm-wide strategy and business planning across the...
by Bruce | July 24, 2017 | Articles, Business Models, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy
This article is by Janet Stanton, Partner, Adam Smith, Esq.: “Non-lawyers.” This is the prevailing term for business professionals employed at law firms. Really? Let’s just start with the fact that it’s insulting to be defined by what you are not. (Thought experiment:...
by Bruce | July 10, 2017 | Articles, Business Models, Partnership Structures, Question of the Month, Strategy
Over the past few decades, every other sizable sector of the professional services industry has switched wholesale from being organized as partnerships to being organized as corporations. This includes: Management consultants, such as McKinsey, BCG, and Bain;...
by Bruce | June 25, 2017 | Articles, Business Models, Leadership, Strategy
A brief follow-on to the earlier column on Amazon, GE, and Whole Foods. The typically worthwhile Greg Ip, writing in The Wall Street Journal on “The Economy Needs Amazons, but it Mostly Has GEs”, gives us the following chart: The point? For 20+ years,...
by Bruce | June 19, 2017 | Articles, Business Models, Leadership, M&A, Strategy
Jeff Immelt’s stepping down as head of GE after 16 years was the odds-on favorite to be the big business story of the week until of course the Amazon/Whole Foods acquisition sucked all the oxygen out of the building. Any lessons in here for Law Land? Bear with...