by Bruce | February 4, 2005 | Articles, Finance, Leadership, M&A, Marketing, Partnership Structures, Strategy
Roughly speaking, there are two theories of history: That people shape events, or that events shape people. As a confirmed subscriber to the former theory, this American Lawyer profile of Bingham-McCutchen’s chair, Jay Zimmerman, tells the tale to me of...
by Bruce | January 31, 2005 | Articles, Compensation, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Strategy
"Law firms are being forced to run themselves along more ‘corporate’ lines than ever before," reports the FT, summarizing a PwC report on the top 50 UK firms during 2004. This new "strategic approach" may represent a departure...
by Bruce | January 27, 2005 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy
Building a genuinely trusting, collaborative, integrated culture—where one does not exist—is among the tallest of orders that a firm can face. Since control over clients is such a key source of power, client-hogging and the individualistic behavior...
by Bruce | January 16, 2005 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Just Plain Interesting, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Strategy
Which profession is most likely to suffer from stress, depression, and alcohol or substance abuse? That’s right—here’s lookin’ at you, kid. According to the FT, alcohol-related deaths in the UK among lawyers are double the rate of...
by Bruce | January 4, 2005 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy
In a happy confluence, two articles which are far stronger together than is either alone were pointed out to me today by two loyal readers. The first is The American Lawyer’s current "Management" column, about Customer Relationship Management...
by Bruce | December 22, 2004 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Partnership Structures
More from the redoubtable FT about what may transpire from marketplace forces released after (the widely expected) adoption of the Clementi Commission recommendations in the UK. (If you don’t know what the Clementi Commission is, as one of my law...