by Bruce | December 9, 2024 | Articles, Business Models, Finance, Globalization, M&A, Strategy
‘We want to use this combination to forge a new global elite,’ Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) CEO Justin D’Agostino tells Legal Business as he discusses the firm’s ambitious merger plans with New York’s Kramer Levin. So opens LegalBusiness’ main article[1] late last...
by Bruce | April 19, 2022 | Articles, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, M&A, Practice Group Management, Strategy
Of late we’ve gotten a number of queries from reporters asking us if we think the M&A/private equity investment tsunami of the last year and a half or more has peaked. A wise friend once advised that volunteering forecasts could be performed safely so long...
by Bruce | July 9, 2021 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Finance, M&A, Technology strategy
Scorching new data out on the volume of deal-making over the last 12 months or so, from Refinitiv courtesy of The Wall Street Journal (“Cash-laden companies are on an M&A Spree”). Ready for some once-in-a-lifetime-career numbers?: In the first six...
by Bruce | February 1, 2021 | Articles, Build Back Better, Business Models, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Innovative Managing Partners, Leadership, M&A, Strategy
When we ended Part 2 of this series, we had discussed the data showing (1) that the conventional wisdom about the AmLaw firms growing relentlessly to the sky was, uh, Fake News (h/t to Jae Um), (2) that the real picture is one of increasing segmentation among law...
by Bruce | June 27, 2019 | Articles, Finance, Leadership, M&A, Partnership Structures, Recruiting, Strategy
Ask almost any Managing Partner or office leader this question and odds are about 98% that the answer you’ll get is, “It depends.” Indeed. We wish there were reliable, consistent, industry-wide data on laterals’ success ratios, but we’ve...
by Bruce | April 1, 2019 | Articles, Business Models, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Latin America, Leadership, M&A, Practice Group Management, Strategy
Last week I spent three full days in Bogota, meeting with firms and colleagues, giving a talk at the always-wonderful “Gun Club,” and generally trying to soak up as much market intelligence as I could. Although I’ve been to Bogota several...