by Bruce | August 29, 2008 | Articles, Finance, Globalization, Practice Group Management, Technology strategy
Apologies for a dearth of columns this week, but I was at ILTA/2008 at the Gaylord Texan outside Dallas. Two comments about the Gaylord, Dallas, and August. First, the Gaylord comes as close as any place I’ve ever been to meriting the word...
by Bruce | August 22, 2008 | Articles, Compensation, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, M&A, Strategy
We have our first comprehensive report on how 2008 is shaping up financially, courtesy of The American Lawyer, and Dan DiPietro of Citi’s Private Bank, and it paints a picture of what are soon going to be, if they aren’t already, vastly diminished...
by Bruce | August 16, 2008 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Practice Group Management, Strategy
One of the most famous management books in recent history is The Balanced Scorecard, published in 1996 by two Harvard Business School professors, Robert Kaplan and David Norton. If you’ve never heard of it, you should at the very least become familiar with its...
by Bruce | August 9, 2008 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Strategy
Put these trends together, as reported by this month’s issue of The American Lawyer, and what do you get? Midlevel associates, despite their pay jump since 2006, aren’t satisfied with with their compensation; New York City salary levels have penetrated...
by Bruce | August 4, 2008 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Strategy
This is about the Cadwalader layoffs. But I won’t be piling on. I really won’t. Instead, I’d rather examine how the firm got to this unhappy pass and what managerial lessons it might hold in store for us. To understand what brought it to cutting...
by Bruce | July 29, 2008 | Articles, Compensation, Finance, Strategy, Technology strategy
Earlier this month, I wrote a column "about wringing our hands" (its actual title was How High Quality Are Your Lawyers? And How Can You Tell?) and I’ve just received a most thoughtful email from Alec Guettel, one of the co-founders of Axiom...