by Bruce | May 12, 2017 | Articles, Business Models, Globalization, Leadership, Marketing, Strategy, Technology strategy
One may fervently hope that regular readers have come to expect certain recurring customs here at Adam Smith, Esq., and today we honor that expectation with our usual “Letter from _____,” when we’ve just returned from a significant trip and have some...
by Bruce | April 10, 2017 | Articles, Business Models, Leadership, Strategy
Rarely do I snag anything from The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal as an entree into an essay on Adam Smith, Esq. (not because there’s anything the least wrong with them, but because I figure you’ve probably already seen it), but rules are made...
by Bruce | March 17, 2017 | Articles, Business Models, Compensation, Finance, Partnership Structures
This is a guest column by a very good friend of Adam Smith, Esq., Richard Rapp, who was President and CEO of NERA Economic Consulting for 18 years (1988-2005), during which time the firm grew to global scale. Richard now co-heads Veltro Advisors, a law firm...
by Bruce | January 18, 2017 | Articles, Business Models, Finance, Leadership, Strategy
From the foregoing analyses, it is apparent that the financial performance of law firms over the past 10 years has been driven by only one factor: rate increases. As we have seen, demand gowth for law firm services has been essentially flat, productivity has been...
by Bruce | October 17, 2016 | Articles, Business Models, Finance, Just Plain Interesting, Strategy
In connection with an ongoing research/whitepaper project, further about which affiant sayeth not, I had occasion to look at the Original AmLaw 50 from 1985. Here are the first three columns: Rank, firm, and gross revenue: Aside from the historic time warp we...
by Bruce | September 23, 2016 | Articles, Business Models, Globalization, Strategy
Along with Brexit and the apparently unsinkable Trump, another surprise has been brewing on the world stage and I hope you’ve noticed. Globalization—measured by the most fundamental and reliable metric, crossborder trade volume—has ended its ever upward...