by Bruce | January 25, 2005 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Globalization, Leadership, M&A, Strategy
While skeptical of mergers (see below), I’m also of the view that "chance favors the prepared," and that: having a clearly articulated and fundamentally sound strategy going in; recognizing and confronting with clear-eyed vision the issues surrounding...
by Bruce | January 23, 2005 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, M&A, Strategy
Is there anything interesting to be said of the potential Pillsbury/Shaw-Pittman merger? Regular readers will know that I approach mergers with a jaundiced eye, given their frankly embarrassing track record of destroying rather than creating value in...
by Bruce | January 16, 2005 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Just Plain Interesting, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Strategy
Which profession is most likely to suffer from stress, depression, and alcohol or substance abuse? That’s right—here’s lookin’ at you, kid. According to the FT, alcohol-related deaths in the UK among lawyers are double the rate of...
by Bruce | January 14, 2005 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Strategy, Technology strategy
Is the US the "spiritual home" of legal technology? So Legal IT would have it. What, then, are current and future trends? (And I promise this is as close as I’ll come to the "tennis without a net" custom of New Year...
by Bruce | January 11, 2005 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Strategy
If you believe Hildebrandt, there were 47 law firm mergers of significance last year. (The editorial insertion "of significance" is my own, because while Hildebrandt says they limit their sample to law firms of five or more attorneys, the private...
by Bruce | January 10, 2005 | Articles, Globalization, Knowledge Management, Leadership, Practice Group Management, Strategy
If you believe that the merger wave is far from cresting and that the future promises a landscape of perhaps two or three dozen truly international mega-firms with revenues north of $1-billion/year—but you’re currently at less than half that...