by Bruce | May 21, 2007 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Leadership
I have often wondered—perhaps you have as well—how "innovative" the practice of law really is. Certainly you’ve heard the view that a profession built on precedent is inherently allergic to innovation, but I believe there are...
by Bruce | May 17, 2007 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, Strategy
Dechert was #48 on the AmLaw 2001 and is #24 on the AmLaw 2006. Under the headline, "Dechert Cracks the Code for Am Law 100 Success," The American Lawyer tries to explain how the firm pulled it off. I wish the article were more successful...
by Bruce | May 15, 2007 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Partnership Structures
In doing some research about large law firm dissolutions (Brobeck, Coudert, Finley Kumble, Shea & Gould, etc.), I came across a November 15, 1983 article from The New York Times archives entitled "Business and the Law: Fall in Income at Big Firms." Join...
by Bruce | May 13, 2007 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, Strategy
"The most penetrating analyst of capitalism who ever lived?" No, it’s not Adam Smith himself, who was in a poor position to be an "analyst" of what he essentially invented. Keynes? Marx? Darwin? (I’m actually not...
by Bruce | May 10, 2007 | Articles, Compensation, Cultural Considerations, Finance, Globalization, Leadership, Partnership Structures, Practice Group Management, Strategy
The American Lawyer asks "Is Shedding Partners the Right Way to Improve Profitability?," which is the wrong question—albeit a nice headline for a relatively substantive article. First, what phenomenon are they addressing? The phenomenon is...
by Bruce | May 9, 2007 | Articles, Cultural Considerations, Leadership, Practice Group Management, Strategy
"Uncertainty sometimes is essential for success." A scientist talking? An NFL coach? A four-star general? Actually, Jerome Groopman, a physician at Harvard Medical School who also writes for The New Yorker. The words are from his new book, How Doctors Think,...