by Bruce | November 16, 2018 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy
We don’t often write purposefully on the topic of leadership, if for no other reason than it’s hard for most people to get past, “I know it when I see it,” but more substantively because we think it perfuses so much of our writing and...
by Bruce | October 1, 2018 | Articles, Branding, Business Models, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Strategy, Technology strategy
By “only two strategies,” I mean what if there are only two general ways of creating a sustainable competitive advantage? I’ve read a lot of the business and management literature on strategy (believe me…) and this thought first surfaced when I...
by Bruce | June 22, 2018 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Leadership, Partnership Structures
Yes, it happens. We’ve seen several situations where the firm’s Managing Partner or Chair can’t bring themselves to make decisions–some arguably critical to the firm’s prosperity and vibrancy in the long run–because they fear some partners will object....
by Bruce | March 26, 2018 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Practice Group Management
My favorite law in the whole world is the Law of Unintended Consequences. I suspect I’m so fond of it because it’s intrinsically perverse, it smotes the smartest people (maybe especially the smartest people), it’s of universal applicability, and it shouldn’t be that...
by Bruce | December 29, 2017 | Articles, Branding, Business Models, Finance, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy, Technology strategy
I’m coming to the conclusion that BigLaw is not one business, but two different businesses. Some firms (a minority) are in one business, but most firms are in another business entirely. Note what I am not saying: I’m not saying some firms have one business model and...