Leadership
A law firm taxonomy: Introduction
We humans like to put things in categories. And while we can get it plain wrong, or mix up two categories benignly or malignly, there’s no question our propensity for categorization—from friend or foe and food to poison, to Linnaeus, to the periodic table, to the Dewey decimal system—has gotten us a long way on
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Strategy & Partner Pay
Herewith the second article by Richard Rapp. Thanks, Richard!—Bruce. Law firm managers who are planning large-scale, hubristic expansion-by-acquisition should study the Dewey LeBoeuf morality play very closely. The rest of us should not. It’s a distraction that diverts attention from what matters closer to home. Permit me to analogize: Those of us who are
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Richard Rapp Joins Adam Smith, Esq.
It is with great personal and professional pleasure that we announce Richard Rapp is joining Adam Smith, Esq. as Senior Advisor. Those of you who have learned even a little about the consulting side of Adam Smith, Esq. know that we have remained small by choice, reflecting our conviction that the most challenging and sophisticated
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“ReInvent Law:” You Have Spoken
A few weeks ago I ran a column about “ReInvent Law,” an event in Silicon Valley in the first half of March, which presented some views about possible futures of BigLaw, most of which were, uh, challenging to those who think business as usual is a strategy. My column wasn’t so much about whether I
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Execution is the New Strategy
I suspected as much all along. I’m referring to the recent admirably data-intensive study of lateral partner movement in London compiled and written by Mark Brandon of Motive Legal and published in The Lawyer a few days ago. This is must reading for anyone involved in the massively escalating lateral partner hiring minuet—which seems to
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Growth Is Dead, The Video
OK, so the film rights to the book have not yet been auctioned, but in the meantime here’s my interview with the intrepid Lee Pacchia of Bloomberg Law. From Lee’s introduction: The era of ever-expanding revenues and profits for the nation’s largest law firms — a period that lasted from 1980 to 2008 — is
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We Can Do Better
As a securities lawyer, I’ve read my share of financial disclosure documents, but I’ve never seen one in our industry-until today, when K&L Gates released its 2012 results (the figures were unaudited on the release date, but they will be audited shortly). When you think about it, this is a preposterous state of affairs. We are
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“Growth Is Dead” Launch Party
A gentle reminder, dear readers: Our friends at Above the Law have published a short interview with me about the genesis of Growth Is Dead (with a convenient link to the registration page for the launch party; remember it’s free). Hope to see you there!
About the Site, Articles, Book Reviews, Leadership, Strategy
A Tale of Three Cities
Regular readers may know, or have intuited, that I was born in Manhattan and have spent essentially my entire adult life on the island (save for a childhood detour to a close-in suburb, and four-year and three-year sojourns to college and law school) and may have therefore assumed various things about me premised on that
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Growth Is Dead Party: Update
Update: Growth Is Dead: Now What? Book launch party Pete Kalis to join yours truly You don’t want to miss this Tuesday February 26/New York You’re invited! Dear Readers, To make the launch party for our new book, Growth Is Dead: Now What? even better, the irrepressible Pete Kalis will join in on the discussion. Not
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