by Bruce | March 23, 2005 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, M&A, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy
"From pace-setter to basket case in the United States?" Shall we all guess what firm got stuck with that donkey-tail over at law.com? Alas, of course, it was Clifford-Chance. The questions du jour are (1) what went wrong? (not so we can...
by Bruce | March 19, 2005 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Partnership Structures, Strategy
I have often written on the tension between lockstep compensation and eat-what-you-kill, and I’m coming to the view that a nuanced, subjective, and openly ad hoc approach is probably the best, all things considered. Each of the polar end-points on that...
by Bruce | March 17, 2005 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Strategy
Lockstep vs. eat-what-you-kill: Joined at the hip? Legal Week argues, using the apparently unending saga at Clifford-Chance as a journalistic "hook," that the boundary zone between the two models is wide and flexible, not narrow and bright. Now at one...
by Bruce | March 9, 2005 | Articles, Compensation, Finance, Leadership, Practice Group Management, Strategy, Technology strategy
In my last post I noted at least anecdotal evidence about the cost of losing existing talent, and today The National Law Journal reports that firms are taking steps to make it harder for headhunters to poach associates, primarily by removing information about...
by Bruce | March 8, 2005 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, Practice Group Management, Strategy
If you think practice group management is a fad that will run its course, you should read this piece by Patrick McKenna. [Patrick is a well-known expert on strategy and practice management and, among other things, co-author with David Maister of "First...
by Bruce | March 4, 2005 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, M&A, Strategy
I believe this is a first, but I’m about to quote an astute and interested UK reader’s unsolicited, over-the-transom "letter to ‘Adam Smith, Esq.’" in its entirety. At first I thought I could edit it gracefully for concision,...