by Bruce | August 17, 2005 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Leadership, Marketing, Strategy
Sometimes it doesn’t hurt to be reminded of the obvious. Permit me to remind you: Ours is a talent-driven profession. Professionals—"elevator assets"—are highly mobile. The best people are always in limited supply. Turnover is...
by Bruce | August 12, 2005 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Strategy
Imagine a highly productive partner with a stand-out book of business that other firms would salivate over, years of experience and accumulated wisdom, and deep ties to blue-chip clients. What are the odds a firm would introduce a clause in its partnership...
by Bruce | August 10, 2005 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Globalization, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy
Is "leadership" a verb or a noun? I’m not trying to be cute—the real question is whether leaders are simply born, or can be made. To step back, leadership is one of those ineffable qualities the intrinsic desirability of which no one...
by Bruce | August 4, 2005 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, M&A, Strategy
If "quadrifecta" is a word, then I suppose we have one, although some of the four firms constituting it are, in the immortal words of Orwell’s Animal Farm, "more equal than others." Reed Smith is reported to be eyeing an acquisition of...
by Bruce | July 31, 2005 | Articles, Compensation, Finance, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Strategy
The AmLaw 200 (technically, the AmLaw 101—200) is now out and the most important generalization to be offered is that this group is not susceptible to generalizations. On a macro level, the news is good for these firms: Revenue was up year-over-year by 7%,...
by Bruce | July 25, 2005 | Articles, Compensation, Finance, Just Plain Interesting, Leadership, Strategy
Here are three rankings of top firms, all published this month. Any ideas on which is what? Ranking A Firm Ranking B Firm Ranking C Firm 1 Wachtell 1 Cravath 1 Wachtel 2 Cahill Gordon 2 Wachtel 2 Cravath 3 Sullivan & Cromwell 3 Sullivan & Cromwell 3...