by Bruce | February 13, 2006 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, M&A, Partnership Structures, Strategy, Technology strategy
When you see—or when I see, at any rate—sustained outperformance by a firm over a five-year span, I cannot help but ask myself: "How did they do that?" What follows has a dusting of speculation at the end, but I think it’s a path worth...
by Bruce | February 10, 2006 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Partnership Structures
Professor Bainbridge compares an article from The Economist showing a steady increase in Americans’ leisure time over the past 40 years with a story from the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin reporting on how over-worked lawyers are: "The survey showed that how...
by Bruce | February 10, 2006 | About the Site, Articles, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Strategy
Back in February, 2005 I authored the following piece: Who Will Be Your Successor? Succession planning is part of the Management 101 toolkit that law firms ignore at their peril. Too many firm leaders are reluctant to attend to it, either intentionally ("it...
by Bruce | February 7, 2006 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, Strategy
Over in the UK, they’re one step closer to the inevitable: Whole or partial public ownership of a law firm. (An investment bank is talking with "some of the largest firms" about IPO-ing them.) Regular readers know that I’ve been...
by Bruce | February 2, 2006 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, M&A, Marketing, Strategy
Global Expansion Junkies: I have bad news. Far too many law firms seem to enjoy expanding for its own sake, in an intellectual vacuum devoid of strategic analysis or rigorous consideration of the implications of growth in both headcount and geographic...
by Bruce | January 27, 2006 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy
David Maister confesses: "I have spent twenty years trying to say all professions look similar and can learn from each other, but I’m finally prepared to concede that lawyers are different – and it has nothing to do with economics." In a piece...