by Bruce | December 14, 2006 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Knowledge Management, Practice Group Management, Strategy, Technology strategy
Among the numerous obstacles to an effective and comprehensive Knowledge Management program are (a) lawyers’ reluctance—actually, make that absolute refusal—to spend 10 seconds in the active "care and feeding" of the KM system; and (b) the...
by Bruce | December 9, 2006 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy
In general, I try to avoid staking out hard and fast positions. Partly, this is simply because I have a strong preference for spending my time analyzing and discussing issues where there really are two (or more) sides; they’re just plain more intrinsically...
by Bruce | December 8, 2006 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance
Last year, with base salaries for first-years at $125,000, associate bonuses at top New York firms ranged from $30,000 for first-years to $60,000+ for senior associates. This year, the news just broke that with base salaries for first-years at $145,000, associate...
by Bruce | December 2, 2006 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Globalization, Leadership, Strategy, Technology strategy
Periodically I’m asked whether the legal industry could steal a page from the playbook of other industries that it might resemble, either for inspiration and innovation, or for cautionary, clarifying lessons. If the question relates to what economists call...
by Bruce | November 28, 2006 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Strategy
We know from life in general that people excel differently depending on the circumstances. Some are natural schmoozers, some highly analytic, some of us lone wolves and some of us can’t work without a crowd. Does the ghastly cliche...
by Bruce | November 22, 2006 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, M&A, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy, Technology strategy
Mergers, globalization, consolidation: I’ve heard all about it. Time to tell me something new. Is that your feeling? Then let’s talk about post-merger leadership, and what you could actually do to make a difference if the seemingly-inevitable comes to...