by Bruce | March 29, 2005 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Globalization, Leadership, M&A, Strategy, Technology strategy
It’s not your imagination: Mega-mergers in corporate-land are on the upswing. According to The Wall Street Journal, the last five months have seen more than a dozen deals valued at more than $10-billion. And the result is that "investors...
by Bruce | March 23, 2005 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, M&A, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy
"From pace-setter to basket case in the United States?" Shall we all guess what firm got stuck with that donkey-tail over at law.com? Alas, of course, it was Clifford-Chance. The questions du jour are (1) what went wrong? (not so we can...
by Bruce | March 21, 2005 | Articles, Globalization, Leadership, Practice Group Management, Strategy, Technology strategy
Most of the ink on the topic of outsourcing by law firms has been understandably devoted to back-office functions such as HR and tech support desks. I view the trend to house these functions elsewhere than in, say, midtown Manhattan, as eminently sensible and...
by Bruce | March 19, 2005 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Partnership Structures, Strategy
I have often written on the tension between lockstep compensation and eat-what-you-kill, and I’m coming to the view that a nuanced, subjective, and openly ad hoc approach is probably the best, all things considered. Each of the polar end-points on that...
by Bruce | March 16, 2005 | Articles, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, M&A, Partnership Structures, Strategy
Despite the stupefying fact that The Wall Street Journal reported late last year that 45% of Americans believe "literally" in the Biblical story of Creation, whereas only 31% subscribe to the theory of evolution (have you thanked a teacher today?), Darwinian...
by Bruce | March 10, 2005 | Articles, Finance, Globalization, Knowledge Management, Leadership, M&A, Strategy
If you believe Legal Week, the waters are already choppy and will become downright stormy for tech-centric California-based firms, particularly the two remaining powerhouses of Silicon Valley, Wilson-Sonsini and Cooley-Godward. [As to other late, great...