by Bruce | February 25, 2015 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Strategy, Technology strategy
“Innovation” seems to be on everyone’s lips these days. Among other things, the problems are: Many people, lawyers in particular, are stumped when it comes to describing what “innovation” actually is; Business history proves to a...
by Bruce | January 14, 2015 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Leadership, M&A, Strategy
The widely experienced and catholically curious Lee Pacchia (formerly of Bloomberg Law, now at his own Mimesis Law) asked me to stop by his studio last week and talk about the role of culture in law firm combinations. I also touch on the issue of “deal...
by Bruce | December 30, 2014 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Leadership, M&A, Strategy
To paraphrase the gone-but-not-forgotten E.F. Hutton campaign (I did work on Wall Street—I’m allowed these memories), when a Director Emeritus of McKinsey, who founded and led the firm’s global practice supporting mergers and acquisitions, speaks about...
by Bruce | December 23, 2014 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Practice Group Management, Recruiting
Russell Long (1918—2003) was a US Senator from Louisiana for nearly 40 years (1948—1987) and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee for nearly half that period. As such, he was an expert on the US tax code and, legend has it, observed that the realities of politics...
by Bruce | December 12, 2014 | Articles, Business Models, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Recruiting, Strategy
From the Kirkland & Ellis site, under the topic Careers–>Laterals Overview (I quote in full, emphasis supplied): At Kirkland, the quality and experience of our lawyers are among our greatest strengths. We are committed to making a substantial investment...
by Bruce | December 3, 2014 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Leadership, Technology strategy
Nearly four years have passed since IBM’s Watson beat two human beings at Jeopardy, and not just any two human beings: Ken Jennings, record-holder for longest winning streak (74 appearances) and Brad Rudder, largest single money-winner ($3.25-million). As...