by Bruce | May 18, 2010 | Articles, Compensation, Finance
Whatever your views might be on the intrinsic validity or durability of the billable hour, timekeeping is still fundamental to most firms’ accounting and compensation systems, so it remains a topic of “evergreen” interest. Adam Smith, Esq. has posted...
by Bruce | May 13, 2010 | Articles, Compensation, Finance, Leadership
Orrick announced on May 12 that “it will no longer use or report, internally or publicly, the metric of Profit Per Equity Partner.” Please join me in prayer, dear congregants, that this will inaugurate a trend. I’ll explain in a moment, but first,...
by Bruce | March 19, 2010 | Articles, Compensation, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Strategy
A few days ago the juxtaposition of two articles, one in The Wall Street Journal and the other in The Times (UK), struck me as too rich not to point out. The WSJ wrote, in “Gap Widens Between Tech Richest and the Rest,” that: A handful of cash-rich...
by Bruce | February 23, 2010 | Articles, Compensation, Finance, Leadership, Strategy
Earnings Season is now in full throat, and we’re beginning to see a remarkably consistent pattern emerge: Revenues essentially flat to down 10% Profits flat to slightly down-but PPP flat or even up a bit I generalize, of course. But here is some of the evidence...
by Bruce | December 17, 2009 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Strategy
In the 1980’s and 1990’s, one often heard the only semi-facetious phrase that “investment bankers are short-term greedy, but lawyers are long-term greedy.” One of the few exceptions to “short term greedy” on the I-Bank side of...
by Bruce | November 17, 2009 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Innovative Managing Partners, Leadership, Practice Group Management, Strategy
What’s going on at Reed Smith? Less than a week ago, they announced a roughly 20% cut in first-year associate salaries and hourly billing rates for the 50-odd lawyers joining the firm in January 2010. Here’s what they had to say about it (emphasis...