by Bruce | August 9, 2008 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Strategy
Put these trends together, as reported by this month’s issue of The American Lawyer, and what do you get? Midlevel associates, despite their pay jump since 2006, aren’t satisfied with with their compensation; New York City salary levels have penetrated...
by Bruce | August 4, 2008 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Strategy
This is about the Cadwalader layoffs. But I won’t be piling on. I really won’t. Instead, I’d rather examine how the firm got to this unhappy pass and what managerial lessons it might hold in store for us. To understand what brought it to cutting...
by Bruce | July 29, 2008 | Articles, Compensation, Finance, Strategy, Technology strategy
Earlier this month, I wrote a column "about wringing our hands" (its actual title was How High Quality Are Your Lawyers? And How Can You Tell?) and I’ve just received a most thoughtful email from Alec Guettel, one of the co-founders of Axiom...
by Bruce | July 21, 2008 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Law Schools
My friend Prof. Bill Henderson of Indiana University School of Law has just published a highly significant column titled "How the ‘Cravath System’ Created the Bi-Modal Distribution." At least one blog ("MoneyLaw") has already deemed it...
by Bruce | June 26, 2008 | Articles, Compensation, Finance, Practice Group Management
Three guesses what these numbers represent: Blank Rome 20 Cadwalader 35 Clifford Chance 6 Hunton & Williams ?* Paul Hastings ?* Powell Goldstein <10 Sonnenschein 37 Sutherland Asbill & Brennan 15* Thacher Proffitt 24 Thelen Reid 26 Total 174** *not verified...
by Bruce | June 4, 2008 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Strategy
Chambers has a nice seasonal report it mails to subscribers, but it doesn’t provide it online. This is a pity (and, I predict, a practice with a finite half-life), but one of the articles in the issue I recently received (August 2007 for those of you following...