by Bruce | December 20, 2005 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Strategy
Normally, the issue in succession planning—when a firm even goes through such planning in a sober and serious-minded fashion—is who among the next generation is best prepared and equipped, through both experience and innate constitution, to take over the...
by Bruce | December 16, 2005 | About the Site, Adam Smith Himself, Articles, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Just Plain Interesting
Aside from law firms and the business thereof—my genuine professional passion—I must occasionally share a personal passion, but only if it touches upon economics. One personal passion is the almost unimaginable centrality of the subway system to New...
by Bruce | December 15, 2005 | Articles, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, M&A, Strategy
A perennial subject for speculation is whether or how the consolidation trend among BigLaw will end. A primary—and by sheer headcount perhaps the prevalent—point of view is that the industrial structure of BigLaw is moving towards a bimodal...
by Bruce | December 13, 2005 | Articles, Compensation, Finance, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Strategy
According to The Recorder, "Law firm leaders throughout California identify increasing leverage as a key strategy in their business model." We are here to ask the time-honored question, "What can they be thinking?" Let’s back up. ...
by Bruce | December 8, 2005 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Strategy
Of all the "evergreen" topics we keep coming back to here at "Adam Smith, Esq." one of the ever-greenest (no pun…) is the eternal disequilibrium between lockstep and eat-what-you-kill partner compensation models. Most recently, I...
by Bruce | December 6, 2005 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Strategy
No sooner had we surveyed the prospects for a talent war for associates among the AmLaw 200 than along comes the Financial Times reporting on the release in the UK of PwC’s annual survey of law firm finances. (I’ve requested a full copy by email to...