by Bruce | December 23, 2005 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Strategy
I have posited before that the traditional one-size-fits-all associate-to-partner model is coming under increasing stress. Evidently Allen & Overy agrees. After suffering 25% attrition in its associate ranks last year, they have announced after a lengthy...
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...