Bruce MacEwen

A lawyer and consultant to law firms on strategic and economic issues, I founded and publish “Adam Smith, Esq.” (AdamSmithEsq.com), which generates a third of a million page views per month, providing insights on the business of large, sophisticated law firms. Since the site’s launch in late 2003, I have published nearly 1,000 articles on "Adam Smith, Esq." on the economics of law firms, covering such topics as strategy, leadership, globalization, M&A, finance, compensation, and cultural considerations and partnership structures.

My consulting practice focuses on US, UK, and Canadian firms.  Recent engagements have included developing strategic plans for departments, practice groups, and firms as a whole; pre-merger due diligence and post-merger integration; strategies for associate recruitment and retention; analyzing resource allocation at law firms (including consolidation and out-sourcing); refining lateral recruitment strategies; analyzing the ROI of technology initiatives, and advising on the consequences of increasing segmentation among the AmLaw 100 firms.

In early 2008 Altman-Weil, Inc., London-based Jomati Consultants LLP, and Adam Smith, Esq., LLC  entered into a strategic alliance designed to enhance what we can offer our clients in terms of depth and breadth at a time when the international legal marketplace is undergoing a period of rapid change.

I was the moving force behind a conference held at Georgetown Law School in Spring 2008 titled “The Future of the Global Law Firm,” which was the first of its kind in the US exploring potential sea changes in law firm ownership—including permitting public ownership and investment in law firms, and diversified multidisciplinary firms. These changes are already underway in Australia and the UK.  The conference attracted senior partners from leading law firms as well as prominent academics and other experts. 

At Harvard Law School in the fall of 2007, I delivered a first of its kind lecture on the economics and other realities of 21st-Century law firms to students and faculty, and I offered a similar lecture in late 2008.  I have also presented at Chicago, Georgetown, Indiana, Northwestern,  NYU, and Stanford law schools.  

I have written for or been quoted in: Fortune; The Wall Street Journal; The New York Times; Bloomberg News/Radio/TV; Business 2.0; The International Herald Tribune; The National Law Journal; The ABA Journal; The Lawyer; and other publications too numerous to mention, and I frequently appear as a speaker at law firm retreats and legal industry conferences domestically and abroad, covering strategy, finance, and IT. 

• I'm a Fellow in the College of Law Practice Management, "formed to honor and recognize distinguished law practice management professionals [and to] inspire excellence and innovation by honoring extraordinary achievement."
• Managing Partners Forum, a global organization of managing partners and CEO’s of law and other professional service, recruited me to serve as its New York regional director.
  
• At SUNY/Stony Brook’s Graduate College of Business, I served as an adjunct professor, teaching the core course “Strategic Technology & Innovation” in the MBA program exclusively for law firm leaders. 
  

Previously, I: 

• Was CEO of a dot-com;
• Practiced securities law in-house for nearly ten years at Morgan Stanley/Dean Witter; and
• Practiced litigation and corporate law with Shea & Gould and with Breed, Abbott & Morgan in New York.

I was educated at Princeton University (BA magna cum laude in economics), at Stanford Law School (JD), and at NYU’s Stern School of Business (MBA candidate in finance). 

A native Manhattanite, I live on New York's Upper West Side with my wife and dog.

bruce@adamsmithesq.com
212.866.4800 (direct)
212.866.2630 (mobile)