by Bruce | August 23, 2011 | Articles, Compensation, Finance, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management
Steven Harper, a former Kirkland partner of 30 years who now writes at The Belly of the Beast and is re-published regularly on law.com, is someone whose writing and analysis I have admired since he first appeared on the scene. (No, I don’t know him, but I wish I...
by Bruce | August 2, 2011 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Partnership Structures
Here’s one of those Evergreen Topics beloved of management consultants and publishers, and since I’m both it’s irresistible. Better yet, the table is set by the always-worthwhile Alex Novarese, editor in chief of Legal Week, in his current weekly...
by Bruce | July 10, 2011 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Recruiting, Strategy
In “Idea or Product?” I wrote about the difference between organizations that basically view themselves as creating products vs. organizations that see themselves as loyal to an idea. I’m happy to report that the piece generated more than its share...
by Bruce | June 22, 2011 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Partnership Structures, Strategy
A few days ago The New York Times published an op-ed by Mark Everson, who was commissioner of the IRS from 2003–2007. His thrust was that lawyers and accountants had stopped being watchdogs against business misconduct and instead have become enablers...
by Bruce | May 18, 2011 | Articles, Business Models, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Strategy
Alex Novarese, Editor in Chief of LegalWeek, has a smart column this week called “Rugged Individualism–a year of firm-specific achievement in the US.” Here are the highlights: Average revenue growth of the AmLaw 100 for 2010, as we’ve seen...
by Bruce | May 8, 2011 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Leadership, Partnership Structures
Normally I don’t refer to events stemming from my own experience in commenting on our industry-indeed, this is something of a first in the 8-year history of Adam Smith, Esq.-but what I want to talk about today is not self-referential and not even, really, about...