by Bruce | March 6, 2007 | Articles, Compensation, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, Strategy
Is there anything remaining to be said about the Great Associate Salary Spike of 2007, to a starting salary of $160,000 at New York offices of big deal firms? (You might be excused for thinking there’s not, if you were to follow every link in this round-up.)...
by Bruce | February 9, 2007 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Strategy
Time to play "Name That Firm:" Here are some clues. “They are definitely the firm to watch,” said the managing partner of one leading New York firm recently overtaken by [Firm X] in the profit charts. “Even though they recognize the...
by Bruce | February 7, 2007 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Strategy
It has been amply reported that last month New York, and then all major national, firms went to $145,000/year first-year associate salaries, and that the following "Simpson Thacher bump" raised the ante to $160,000/year. Several people have asked me...
by Bruce | February 3, 2007 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Knowledge Management, Leadership, Marketing, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy, Technology strategy
Mark Chandler, a Senior Vice President and the Secretary and General Counsel of Cisco, gave a speech last week in San Diego at the Northwestern School of Law’s 34th Annual Securities Regulation Institute, which has been getting a fair amount of play online, and...
by Bruce | January 27, 2007 | Articles, Compensation, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy
Lately there’s been heightened discussion of whether firms’ Managing Partners should be full-time CEO’s, or whether the traditional custom of their being active practitioners, billing gobs of hours on real live client matters and managing the firm...
by Bruce | January 8, 2007 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, Marketing, Strategy
One of the topics I’d like to devote more time to here on "Adam Smith, Esq." is marketing and business development. It matters. It’s harder than it looks. Some people seem preternaturally gifted at it and others seem to have no...