by Bruce | April 27, 2005 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, Strategy
In "Face Time," Business Week probes the irrationality of all of our insecurities about failing to show sufficient of same—that is to say, our fears of what will happen if we’re not in the office at all hours. (This is a two-way street, by...
by Bruce | April 26, 2005 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Strategy
Thought experiment: Your firm needs a new CFO, and you’ve winnowed the search down to three candidates: one who aced the CPA exam and has a degree in accounting from a blue-chip school but has never worked in a law firm; one who is reasonably smart and an...
by Bruce | April 24, 2005 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Strategy, Technology strategy
A recurrent (and painful, at least to judge from readers’ emails) issue in complex law firms, as in other far-flung businesses, is a chronic disconnect between what management thinks IT should provide and IT’s ability or willingness to do so. From...
by Bruce | April 20, 2005 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, Practice Group Management, Strategy, Technology strategy
When it was first announced several months ago, I noted Reed-Smith’s creation of an ambitious initiative into executive education called "Reed Smith University," created in partnership with the Wharton School of Business. At the time, I asked...
by Bruce | April 19, 2005 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Strategy
Run a multi-hundred-million dollar a year enterprise without appointing a general counsel? Sounds like the kind of thing you’d advise your clients against in, say, a heartbeat? News flash: 26 of the AmLaw 50 firms are doing just that. Well,...
by Bruce | April 14, 2005 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Strategy
Reader response to "It May Be More Than a Pond" has been very gratifying, with some genuine insights into the perplexing, and growing, difference in profitability between US- and UK-based firms. Put together, we may be approaching a viable theory of...
