by Bruce | February 9, 2007 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Strategy
Time to play "Name That Firm:" Here are some clues. “They are definitely the firm to watch,” said the managing partner of one leading New York firm recently overtaken by [Firm X] in the profit charts. “Even though they recognize the...
by Bruce | February 7, 2007 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Strategy
It has been amply reported that last month New York, and then all major national, firms went to $145,000/year first-year associate salaries, and that the following "Simpson Thacher bump" raised the ante to $160,000/year. Several people have asked me...
by Bruce | February 3, 2007 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Knowledge Management, Leadership, Marketing, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy, Technology strategy
Mark Chandler, a Senior Vice President and the Secretary and General Counsel of Cisco, gave a speech last week in San Diego at the Northwestern School of Law’s 34th Annual Securities Regulation Institute, which has been getting a fair amount of play online, and...
by Bruce | January 27, 2007 | Articles, Compensation, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy
Lately there’s been heightened discussion of whether firms’ Managing Partners should be full-time CEO’s, or whether the traditional custom of their being active practitioners, billing gobs of hours on real live client matters and managing the firm...
by Bruce | January 19, 2007 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy
A reader has asked my opinion on "diversity," and while there’s not much new or scintillating to say about its worthy objectives or general feel-good quotient, my approach will be to examine it through the lens of firm performance: Do more...
by Bruce | January 4, 2007 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, M&A, Partnership Structures, Strategy
I got the news on my BlackBerry early this afternoon, but it’s all over the place now (WSJ, American Lawyer, Bloomberg [where yours truly is quoted]): The Dewey-Orrick merger is not to be. I’m sorry. I felt from the beginning it held great...