by Bruce | December 19, 2010 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy
A few days ago LegalWeek wrote about whether the “global law model helps or hinders the top-level adviser:” In other words, whether the more commercially minded we all become as lawyers and as firms, the less room there is for the classic strategic...
by Bruce | December 8, 2010 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Leadership, M&A, Partnership Structures, Strategy
A few days ago LegalWeek had a short piece announcing that: Hogan Lovells is set to offer marquee lateral hires above-lockstep pay deals as part of ambitious plans to dramatically expand its City M&A practice. The strategy is intended to underpin the firm’s...
by Bruce | November 29, 2010 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Partnership Structures
Rarely have I used a reader’s correspondence as the premise for an entire column, but sometimes the thoughtfulness and clarion good will that come through deserve that it be shared (anonymously, in almost all cases, as here) with the larger Adam Smith, Esq....
by Bruce | November 14, 2010 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Leadership, M&A, Partnership Structures, Strategy
As has been widely reported (for example, on law.com), Proskauer and SJ Berwin announced shortly before the weekend that they had called off their merger talks, which were originally disclosed over half a year ago. The predictably anodyne statement, issued jointly,...
by Bruce | September 22, 2010 | Articles, Business Models, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Leadership, M&A, Marketing, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy
Attentive readers will know that I’m in Sao Paulo this week, where the talk of the town (well, at least the talk of The Bar) is this story which was reported yesterday morning in The Latin Lawyer:Any affiliations between international and Brazilian law firms...
by Bruce | September 15, 2010 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Partnership Structures
A few days ago The New York Times ran a story about how partners at Goldman Sachs “are made, and unmade,” with a fair amount of hyperbole about how the “secretive process” results in a small number of people being “chosen to receive this...