by Bruce | February 1, 2024 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy, Technology strategy
When it comes to partner pay, the first thing everyone salaciously wants to know is “how high is up?” And second by a nose is probably “Who’s on top and by how much, especially compared to me?” Please, people, we can do better than this. (You have to admit it sounds...
by Bruce | January 17, 2024 | Articles, Branding, Client Relationships, Cultural Considerations, Marketing, Practice Group Management
The following column is by Janet Stanton, Partner, Adam Smith, Esq. For unfathomable reasons many law firms and lawyers eschew client feedback. The reason we’re baffled by this is that at its most basic, the business of law firms is to serve client’s needs. Let me...
by Bruce | December 25, 2023 | Articles
by Bruce | December 18, 2023 | About the Site, Articles, Business Models, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Recruiting
“Cravath To A Million Squillion!” Sorry, but we’ve seen this dance so many times before that, you have to admit, we all know the script by heart. Cravath (or other blue chip firm [insert here]) bumps up associates’ salaries across the board by an average of...
by Bruce | November 16, 2023 | About the Site, Articles, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, NewLaw, Practice Group Management, Strategy
Irish BIshop George Berkeley (1685–1753) famously asked, “if a tree falls in the forest and no one is present to hear it, would there be a sound?” His notion is neither as cutesy nor as vexed as it might strike you, but a snappy and memorable...
by Bruce | October 5, 2023 | Articles, Business Models, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Partnership Structures, Strategy
“Ripped from the headlines,” as the cliche-inclined might say, we have this from The American Lawyer in the past week or so: Elite Firms Revisit Comp Formulas as Star Talent Has ‘Extraordinary Leverage’ Some highlights: According to Kent Zimmerman over...
by Bruce | September 17, 2023 | About the Site, Adam Smith Himself, Articles, Branding, Ineffable, Just Plain Interesting
Over this past summer, a client, who has become a friend, asked us what the “back story” is behind the name of our firm. (Presumably he found the name ingenious or bizarre or some combination thereof.) Be that as it may, after we explained the origin he said he...
by Bruce | August 23, 2023 | Articles, Business Models, Finance, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy
The following article is by Janet Stanton, Partner, Adam Smith, Esq. LLC. Quite simply, our reason for exploring the non-equity tier is that (a) there has been explosive growth in that cohort and (b) we’ve not seen recent, comprehensive examination of this phenomenon....
by Bruce | August 7, 2023 | Articles, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, Practice Group Management, Strategy
While you were out–staring at the window for the 39th time wondering how private equity seems to have taken over the world, perchance?–relatively few have noticed, until the odd recent headline here and there, about the seemingly sudden arrival on the...
by Bruce | July 30, 2023 | Adam Smith Himself, Articles, Just Plain Interesting
From the wide-ranging and customarily sane Virginia Postrel over at Reason comes a summer bijou: Gadgets and gizmos from Adam Smith’s time. Let’s start with what the self-respecting man about town might have carried with him as he set out for the day....
