by Bruce | October 8, 2026 | Articles, Branding, Compensation, Finance, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Strategy
This column is by Janet Stanton, Partner, Adam Smith, Esq. We generally eschew commenting on daily comings-and-goings in Law Land. We make an exception here, because this is actually huge news. I’m speaking about Kirkland’s decision to stop disclosing financial info...
by Bruce | September 15, 2026 | Articles, Business Models, Client Relationships, Cultural Considerations, Generative AI, Leadership, Strategy, Technology strategy
David Morley, former head of Allen & Overy and, happy disclosure, a long-time friend, just published an article over at law.com that starts like this: The call usually comes on a Friday afternoon. A star partner has an offer from a rival: an eight-figure...
by Bruce | August 25, 2026 | Articles, Business Models, Cultural Considerations, Generative AI, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Strategy
A little while ago I was interviewed by Niraj Chhabra of Sidebar Advisors. He publishes a podcast and here’s a link to my conversation with him. He also shared alternative platforms where you can find our conversation in case you are more comfortable with one of...
by Bruce | August 16, 2026 | Articles, Branding, Business Models, Client Relationships, Generative AI, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Strategy
Back in 2019 we published a three-part series introducing and fleshing out our model of the competitive market segmentation of law firms. We posited that the two primary segments of BigLaw are the “maroons,” go-to firms for bet-the-company matters garnering...
by Bruce | July 9, 2026 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Leadership
You should not be surprised to learn that in my travels across the legal, business, and strategic commentariat, I form opinions–some probably too quickly or too definitively–about the quality of what I’m reading. As an exercise that began as casual...
by Bruce | June 26, 2026 | Articles, Branding, Business Models, Client Relationships, Generative AI, Leadership, M&A, Partnership Structures, Strategy
In the past we have written that for law firms scale—number of partners and total lawyers, number of offices, total revenue, &c.—doesn’t really matter. The distinctions that clients care about center around specific domain/practice area expertise, track record, a...
