by Bruce | January 4, 2018 | Articles, Leadership, Question of the Month
“The Church is always one generation away from extinction.”—Archbishop of Canterbury According to the 2018 Citi Law Firm Group Client Advisory, one-third of equity partners are at or approaching retirement age Citi’s 2018 Report also has this to say: “Looking ahead,...
by Bruce | December 29, 2017 | Articles, Branding, Business Models, Finance, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy, Technology strategy
I’m coming to the conclusion that BigLaw is not one business, but two different businesses. Some firms (a minority) are in one business, but most firms are in another business entirely. Note what I am not saying: I’m not saying some firms have one business model and...
by Bruce | November 29, 2017 | Articles, Business Models, Finance, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management
More so of late, but for some time, we’ve been harboring the suspicion that the glory days of the high-leverage model are over. Could we be seeing the end of leverage? Of course, many management fads fashions tend to come and go, which is why we at Adam Smith, Esq....
by Bruce | November 12, 2017 | About the Site, Articles, Book Reviews, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy, Technology strategy
Many readers will know that this past spring I published my third book, Tomorrowland: Scenarios for law firms beyond the horizon. With the author’s permission, I reproduce here the Introduction to Tomorrowland. I hope you might find it of interest. The future...
by Bruce | October 29, 2017 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Leadership
Forty years ago last March what remains the greatest disaster in aviation history occurred at Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Human error was the primary cause. 583 people were killed (61 survived, or a 90% fatality rate) when two Boeing 747s – one belonging to...
by Bruce | October 24, 2017 | Articles, Business Models, Client Relationships, Finance, Leadership, Practice Group Management, Strategy
Over the past year or two, we’ve been working with what struck us as a high number of litigation boutiques, and we decided to pause and gather our thoughts for, we can always hope, the benefit of a wider audience. Semantics first: By “litigation boutique,” if it’s...