by Bruce | October 22, 2006 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management
Associate retention/attrition may have always been a chronic problem for the industry, but is it only me or is the situation actually deteriorating? Annual attrition rates of 25% at AmLaw 50 and UK 50 firms are now widely reported, and as I previously noted one...
by Bruce | October 17, 2006 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy
If your firm is "two-tier" (equity and non-equity partners), would you ever consider going back to single-tier? Ridiculous, outlandish question—preposterous, beyond the pale, unthinkable? I’m here to remind you that CMS Cameron McKenna, #13...
by Bruce | October 2, 2006 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy
"Management by Objective." "Management by Walking Around." "Re-engineering." "Six Sigma." "Good to Great." Even "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People," "Who Moved My...
by Bruce | September 29, 2006 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Globalization, Knowledge Management, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy, Technology strategy
I’ve written before about "social networks," and how they can be far more important than any relationships specified on your firm’s organizational charts, but "social network analysis" (SNA) is still an emerging field, with its...
by Bruce | September 26, 2006 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy
Are you a vigilant or an operational leader? You may already intuit the difference, but it bears discussing, since our friends at Wharton have written about four leadership traits that count: External focus Conceptual ability Organizational role, and Time...
by Bruce | September 12, 2006 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, M&A, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy
It’s not our wont to try to "cover" late-breaking news—that’s not an arena where I care to compete, nor is it why I think you come to "Adam Smith, Esq."—but just as every rule has exceptions, so today’s word of merger...