by Bruce | April 29, 2006 | Articles, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy
Today we have the AmLaw 100 ranked by Revenue per Lawyer, one of my favorite metrics. Why one of my favorites? First of all, it provides insight into the extent to which a firm actually achieves the Holy Grail sought by all—to do a larger proportion...
by Bruce | April 26, 2006 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Marketing, Practice Group Management
One of the topics most regularly (should I say, "compulsively?") bruited about, with far and away the least actual impact on anything to show for it, is "alternative billing," also known as anything but the billable hour. I have my own theories as...
by Bruce | April 24, 2006 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Practice Group Management, Strategy
Here’s a success story by any measure: "It’s a profitable formula: [Company X’s] 387% return to shareholders over the past five years handily beats almost all other companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index, including New...
by Bruce | April 21, 2006 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management
"An associate at a major, national firm" wrote recently with this lament: "Lately, I really have been plagued by how law firms are managed: I see the inefficiencies and how employees are treated (both at my firm and at other firms), and I...
by Bruce | April 20, 2006 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, Marketing, Strategy, Technology strategy
In the classic "The Innovator’s Dilemma," Clayton Christensen analyzed how companies at the top of their game, with brilliant and successful products, and focused on their core clients, could be undercut and eventually dethroned by small, pesky...
by Bruce | April 18, 2006 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Knowledge Management, Leadership, Practice Group Management, Strategy, Technology strategy
I’ve written before about the economic implications of living in a "tacit" industry (as opposed to a "transactional" or a "transformational" one—McKinsey’s coinage), but there’s more to say. A brief review of the...