by Bruce | March 10, 2010 | Articles, Cultural Considerations
About a week ago, I wrote about the American Lawyer’s release of its annual “Diversity Scorecard” and pointed out what I thought were some shortcomings in its analytic technique.At the end of that column, I offered you all the chance to vote...
by Bruce | March 4, 2010 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Partnership Structures
When is a story not a story? (This is not a trick question.) Well, when, for example, it reports on a development so small as to be trivial–but inflates its import and meaning greatly out of proportion. Or when it is premised on statistical analysis but...
by Bruce | February 19, 2010 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Strategy
The Law Society of England & Wales recently published Nick Jarrett-Kerr’s Strategy for Law Firms: After the Legal Services Act, and Nick was kind enough to send me a copy for my perusal. (Disclosure: I’ve known Nick for years, although we have never...
by Bruce | February 5, 2010 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Strategy
Fourteen years ago, Greenberg Traurig wasn’t in the AmLaw 100, and today it’s #10. Their CEO during this entire period–until he stepped down lastweek–was Cesar Alvarez, now age 62. When he became CEO of the firm, it was a “small but...
by Bruce | December 17, 2009 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Strategy
In the 1980’s and 1990’s, one often heard the only semi-facetious phrase that “investment bankers are short-term greedy, but lawyers are long-term greedy.” One of the few exceptions to “short term greedy” on the I-Bank side of...
by Bruce | November 28, 2009 | Articles, Business Models, Cultural Considerations, Leadership, Strategy
For the second installment in our series on Law Firm Business Models, we turn to boutiques. Boutiques, as a player on the landscape of industrial structure, are a familiar character. Boutiques, in fact, exist in countless industries, and seem capable of thriving in a...
