by Bruce | June 15, 2022 | Articles, Branding, Client Relationships, Finance, Leadership, Practice Group Management, Strategic Client Management, Strategy
A few days ago the intrepid and data-tropic Bloomberg Law reporter Roy Strom published Big law rates topping $2,000 leave value ‘in the eye of the beholder.’ Roy is a friend (disclosure!) but his story prompted some reflections hereabouts on “How...
by Bruce | June 7, 2022 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Practice Group Management, Recruiting, Strategy
Editor’s Note: A modestly condensed version of this article was published a few weeks ago in Thomson Reuter’s Forum magazine. It was the leading story for a week after it was published. We appreciate their courtesy in letting us republish a slightly...
by Bruce | June 5, 2022 | Articles
Well, OK, recordkeeping around births and deaths was approached a bit more casually 299 years ago, but June 5 is the consensus best guess. And here at Adam Smith, Esq., we are sticking to it!
by Bruce | June 1, 2022 | Articles, Business Models, Compensation, Finance, Leadership, Practice Group Management, Strategy, Technology strategy
This article was co-written with Janet Stanton, Partner. As you know, we have recently published our thoughts on the likelihood of a recession in the United States: Reasonably high, in a nutshell. We won’t rehearse our reasoning here in detail, but the root cause...
by Bruce | May 30, 2022 | About the Site, Articles
by Bruce | May 2, 2022 | Articles, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, Strategy
Written with Janet Stanton, Partner, Adam Smith, Esq. In our first installment in this two-part series, M&A, Globalization, and Another Thing, we posited that although M&A is cyclical, and may be turning down from its stratospheric (and unsustainable) peak of...
by Bruce | April 19, 2022 | Articles, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, M&A, Practice Group Management, Strategy
Of late we’ve gotten a number of queries from reporters asking us if we think the M&A/private equity investment tsunami of the last year and a half or more has peaked. A wise friend once advised that volunteering forecasts could be performed safely so long...
by Bruce | March 30, 2022 | About the Site, Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Leadership, Recruiting
Dear Reader-associates. Let your voice be heard while there’s still time! With the heavy lifting done by our friends at Above the Law, we wanted to draw your attention to a brand-new survey delving into how associates have been experiencing the...
by Bruce | March 17, 2022 | About the Site, Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Leadership, Recruiting
Dear Reader-associates. With the heavy lifting done by our friends at Above the Law, we wanted to draw your attention to a brand-new survey delving into how associates have been experiencing the pandemic/lockdown, how their firms and bosses have behaved or...
by Bruce | March 10, 2022 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Ineffable, Leadership, Recruiting, Strategy
I don’t have the grey cells or, frankly, the spare time to keep track, blow by blow, of the Great Associate Comp Wars of 2022, but fortunately Above the Law does and has. From January 20th of this year, when Milbank kicked off the festival of riches arms’ race,...
