by Bruce | June 12, 2007 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy
From an interview in The New York Times on June 9 with Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of GE: "At one point in our conversation, I asked Immelt how he balanced the need to be building consensus with the need to make a firm decision and, in effect, show who’s boss. It...
by Bruce | June 9, 2007 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy
(1) "Our firm is only as good as our lawyers." (2) "Our lawyers are our most valuable asset." (3) "Associate attrition is costing us a fortune." (4) "Why do so many women drop off the partnership track?" If all these statements...
by Bruce | June 2, 2007 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Leadership, Strategy, Technology strategy
I’ve been following the CIO 100 awards for several years—they’re just out—and I’ve never seen so many law firms represented as this year. To wit: Bryan Cave Foley & Lardner Goodwin Procter King & Spalding, and K&L Gates...
by Bruce | May 30, 2007 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy
The most important factors in recruiting laterals are: (a) that they have a sizable, portable book of business; and (b) that they can start generating revenue from that book almost immediately after coming on board your firm. Right? Wrong, and wrong. I’ve...
by Bruce | May 26, 2007 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy
As a manager, how do you balance the imperative of long-term strategic focus with the exigencies of day to day "incoming?" As a practitioner, how do you balance the demands of clients and deals with your well-intended resolutions to be a better...
by Bruce | May 23, 2007 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, M&A, Partnership Structures, Strategy
As noted in the WSJ Law Blog, on law.com’s legal blog watch , and by my good friend Larry Ribstein, the Australian law firm Slater & Gordon, a personal injury specialist firm with 21 branches in the country and over 20,000 clients, became the first...