by Bruce | October 29, 2017 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Leadership
Forty years ago last March what remains the greatest disaster in aviation history occurred at Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Human error was the primary cause. 583 people were killed (61 survived, or a 90% fatality rate) when two Boeing 747s – one belonging to...
by Bruce | October 24, 2017 | Articles, Business Models, Client Relationships, Finance, Leadership, Practice Group Management, Strategy
Over the past year or two, we’ve been working with what struck us as a high number of litigation boutiques, and we decided to pause and gather our thoughts for, we can always hope, the benefit of a wider audience. Semantics first: By “litigation boutique,” if it’s...
by Bruce | October 21, 2017 | About the Site, Articles, Finance, Practice Group Management, Recruiting
Learn how using data can improve your outcomes. Whether you are bringing on laterals, generating business, or even contemplating a combination – do you have the information you need to make better decisions and better position your firm? Adam Smith, Esq. and Leopard...
by Bruce | October 11, 2017 | Articles, Business Models, Cultural Considerations, Globalization, Latin America, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Strategy, Technology strategy
The following article is reprinted by kind permission of Thomson Reuters, where it first appeared in their Forum magazine. It was written by Antonio Leal Holguin, Director, Adam Smith, Esq. The Colombian case. Twenty years ago, Colombian lawyers were still artisans....
by Bruce | October 8, 2017 | Articles, Business Models, Partnership Structures, Question of the Month
This column is by Janet Stanton, Partner, Adam Smith, Esq. Let’s start at the source. Here is the most salient part of Rule 5.4 “Professional Independence of a Lawyer” regarding law firm ownership for most of the US (Washington, DC and Washington state are exceptions...
by Bruce | October 5, 2017 | Articles, Finance, Strategy
With the kind permission of Thomson Reuters, I republish the following article which appears in the most recent edition of their Forum magazine. What are we to make of the recently released 2016 AmLaw 100 numbers? “Rather impressive,” as AmLaw put it in their May...
by Bruce | October 2, 2017 | Articles, Branding, Business Models, Compensation, Finance, Law Schools, Leadership, Recruiting
Across the pond from New York our friend Alex Novarese, editor in chief of Legal Business, just published his commentary Associate pay smoke screen: it’s fooling no-one, which notes “the emergence over the last two years of suspiciously co-ordinated attempts by London...
by Bruce | October 1, 2017 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Leadership, Partnership Structures
We intend October’s “Question of the Month” to squarely address an issue laden with financial and emotional repercussions. But we have surpassing confidence that Adam Smith, Esq.’s intrepid readers are up to it. Without further ado, then: [poll id=...
by Bruce | September 29, 2017 | Articles, Question of the Month
Today is September 29th and voting is about to close on this month’s Question: Is the prohibition against non-lawyers having an ownership interest in a law firm still a good idea? Cast your vote here. At this moment we’re at 143 votes; let’s break...
by Bruce | September 19, 2017 | Articles, Business Models, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, Strategy
Most readers are familiar with our habit of writing a “letter from…” when we have spent some time in a particular market. We spent last week in Toronto among other things delivering the keynote and moderating breakout sessions at the annual meeting of Interlex, an...
