by Bruce | March 27, 2014 | Articles, Business Models, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Strategy
Turnabout. Today we have a sequel, in a yin-yang fashion, to our earlier column, “3 leading indicators of failure.” What might the equivalent indicators be for success, or outperformance? I’m not going to rehearse characteristics of successful firms...
by Bruce | March 21, 2014 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Strategy
Can you remember a time when there was so much talk of more BigLaw firm failures? I can’t. Count yourself a believer or a skeptic (and there are hardcore advocates on both sides, including gleeful cheerleaders in the first camp and diehard deniers in the second...
by Bruce | March 8, 2014 | Articles, Business Models, Cultural Considerations, Globalization, Strategy
Greetings from the right side of the pond: Impressions and observations from a wide-ranging series of conversations and meetings over the past few days. 1. Overall, the market here strikes me as a few years beyond—more evolved—than the US market. Why this is so I have...
by Bruce | February 27, 2014 | Articles, Leadership, Strategy
The following was published a month ago in LegalBusiness as part of their periodic “Dissent” series. The original appears here. Adam Smith, Esq’s Bruce MacEwen argues that short-termism and a lack of stewardship has come to define the modern law...
by Bruce | February 14, 2014 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Practice Group Management, Recruiting, Strategy
When a large number of smart, accomplished, ambitious people seem to be behaving in a way that makes no rational sense, there has to be an irrational explanation. I’ve written and spoken before about my overall attitude towards aggressive lateral partner...
by Bruce | February 6, 2014 | Articles, Compensation, Finance, Globalization, Strategy
The first installment in this series presented the background and basic ramifications of the proposal now pending in Congress to require law firms and other professional service firms with annual revenue over $10-million to adopt the accrual accounting basis and not...