by Bruce | December 28, 2018 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Ineffable, Leadership, Partnership Structures
The lawyer personality type scores notoriously high on “autonomy.” Certainly compared to average citizens, but even to average white-collar professionals, lawyers are driven to do their own thing their own way. You see it all day every day if you hang...
by Bruce | November 16, 2018 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy
We don’t often write purposefully on the topic of leadership, if for no other reason than it’s hard for most people to get past, “I know it when I see it,” but more substantively because we think it perfuses so much of our writing and...
by Bruce | June 22, 2018 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Leadership, Partnership Structures
Yes, it happens. We’ve seen several situations where the firm’s Managing Partner or Chair can’t bring themselves to make decisions–some arguably critical to the firm’s prosperity and vibrancy in the long run–because they fear some partners will object....
by Bruce | June 2, 2018 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Recruiting, Strategy
Copious has been the coverage around Freshfields’ revised lockstep–for example, The Lawyer’s “Be careful what you wish for: First round of Freshfields partners hit by lockstep reform.” It turns out that no matter how resounding the endorsement of the partners...
by Bruce | May 29, 2018 | Articles, Business Models, Cultural Considerations, Globalization, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Strategy
Our custom after trips of some substance is to report back to readers in the form of a “Letter From ____,” and since I spent all of last week in my Second Favorite City in the World, here you have it. Logistics and context I had 21 meetings in four days with a mix of...
by Bruce | May 7, 2018 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Recruiting, Strategy
Last week Jim Stewart of The New York Times published $11 Million a Year for a Law Partner? Bidding War Grows at Top-Tier Firms which was pegged to the news that Sandra Goldstein had left Cravath for Kirkland, and a reported compensation package of $11-million/year...