by Bruce | March 9, 2007 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, M&A, Practice Group Management, Strategy
Whether or not your firm has a private equity practice, you’re surely familiar with its just this side of astonishing rise over the past half decade or so. And if you’re like me you’ve asked yourself, "Who are those guys?" What...
by Bruce | March 8, 2007 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, Strategy
I’m composing this on the plane on my way to the 12th annual "Law Firm Leaders Forum: Leading the Law Firm of the Future" this Thursday and Friday, March 8 & 9, at the Four Seasons in San Francisco. Ralph Baxter of Orrick founded the "Leaders...
by Bruce | February 28, 2007 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy
If your firm is in a comfort zone where doing things 5% or 10% or even 15% better next year will suffice, stop reading because I’m going to be talking about transformation. Transformations may be confused with "managing change," but I’d...
by Bruce | February 16, 2007 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy
"I’ve become accustomed in the last six years to facing the presumption that a profession cannot be a business in its true sense. It is quite a common assertion, made equally by a number from within our own profession. It is underpinned by the belief that...
by Bruce | February 9, 2007 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Strategy
Time to play "Name That Firm:" Here are some clues. “They are definitely the firm to watch,” said the managing partner of one leading New York firm recently overtaken by [Firm X] in the profit charts. “Even though they recognize the...
by Bruce | February 7, 2007 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Strategy
It has been amply reported that last month New York, and then all major national, firms went to $145,000/year first-year associate salaries, and that the following "Simpson Thacher bump" raised the ante to $160,000/year. Several people have asked me...