by Bruce | August 5, 2004 | Articles, M&A
One of the more remarkable implications of Microsoft’s recent announcement to return $32-billion to shareholders in a one-time special dividend later this year was its sub silentio admission that it didn’t have any better ideas about what to do with the...
by Bruce | July 1, 2004 | Articles, M&A
With the publication of the 2004 AmLaw 100 this week comes the inevitable desire for prognostications about the future. The American Lawyer has obliged with a piece predicting, among other things: increasing pressure for "strong on strong" mergers...
by Bruce | April 30, 2004 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, M&A
Is the Atlantic "pond" bridge-able by Wall Street and Magic Circle firms? Or are the cultural and financial schisms simply too large? This provocative Legal Week article argues that the difference in approach and attitude between US and UK firms is...
by Bruce | April 30, 2004 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Finance, M&A
Rumors of the death of the binary distribution trend have been exaggerated. By "binary" we mean the increasing dominance of the multinational-or-boutique model, with less and less room for the mid-sized firm.* Speculation about who’s next...
by Bruce | April 26, 2004 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Globalization, M&A
The UK publication Legal Week posits that mergers are becoming an endangered species because, among other things: cultural considerations are seen as increasingly central to differentiating a firm from its competitors, and cultures are inherently difficult to merge;...
by Bruce | April 20, 2004 | Articles, Finance, Globalization, M&A
One of the last things I intend to do with this blog is to report on breaking news, but the Wilmer-Cutler/Hale & Dorr merger is worth a few words. The merger is being commonly described as "offensive," to differentiate it from the more common...
