The Bergdorf Effect
A week or two ago, we were having drinks here in New York with two senior corporate partners at an AmLaw 25 firm that is quite self-aware enough to know it’s not in the realm of the super-elite, and...
View ArticleDifferent Price Points/One Brand?
I’ve previously mentioned the Business Leadership Summit being organized by The Lawyer, taking place in London September 22—23. (More information here; registration here.) On the afternoon of Wednesday...
View ArticleLaw Firm Leaders Dinner: Seattle 15 Oct
We know many of our loyal readers are based in the Pacific Northwest, and for those who might find themselves in Seattle on Thursday, October 15th, we invite your attention to the Puget Sound Chapter...
View ArticleLetter from London: Part I
We recently returned from London on business, and this will be the first of a few installments presenting our thoughts given the benefit of 17 meetings in five business days. As you know, we work...
View ArticleProfit and Delusion
The following is reproduced from LegalBusiness with the kind permission of the author, Tony Griffiths, who heads the London office of K&L Gates. Many centuries ago while studying law as an...
View ArticleLetter from London: Part II
This is the second in a two-part series recapping some of our thoughts, analyses, and impressions gleaned during our time in London late last month. The first installment, where we discussed Business...
View ArticleLetter from the Pacific Northwest
This fall we had the opportunity to spend a fair amount of time in the Pacific Northwest—multiple trips to Seattle and Portland—and became better acquainted with the dynamics of that particular...
View ArticleLeadership: And How to Squander It
Altman Weil’s annual Law Firms in Transition survey, the 2015 edition, was just published, and as usual it makes for some fascinating reading—at least for me and I suspect for many of the devotees of...
View ArticleHow (Not) To Decide
Presumably you make decisions all the time, in managing your matters, selecting strategies and tactics, and of course outside the work environment as well—with your spouse or significant other, family,...
View ArticleVideo: Market Segmentation
Recently I had a chance to sit down with Ralph Baxter here in New York for an interview that was just released under the auspices of Thomson Reuters’ Legal Executive Institute. I invite you to take a...
View ArticleThe Client Seat: Coda
The final installment in the saga of our intrepid volunteers of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church wrestling with the hairball of New York City land use, zoning, landmarks, and countless other laws and...
View ArticleHappy Thanksgiving!
Thanksgiving–in the truest sense of gratitude for all we have been given–is hardly for Americans only.
View ArticleThe Robots Are/Are Not Coming
IBM Watson. Google’s driverless cars. Uncanny recommendations from Amazon, Siri, and Google Now. Not to mention the Financial Times/McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award for 2015 going to Martin...
View Article“Collegial & Collaborative?” Guess Again
A few months ago we invited you all to take a survey addressing how truly “collegial and collaborative” your firm is, and how well prepared you felt (a) to be able to knowledgeably point clients...
View ArticleOrganizational Behavior: A Manual
A week or so ago, I happened across a training manual offering instructions on proper behavior within organizations. Here I take the liberty of quoting extensively from it. I ask one favor of you and...
View ArticleAssociate Comp & Econ 101
This will not be a lecture. However. In the course of navigating published analysis and coverage of our beloved industry, I can rely on regularly coming across pat assertions displaying such frightful...
View ArticleDon’t Go Public! (?)
It has become a commonplace—I have bowed to convention and endorsed the notion myself—to observe that law firms are labor-, not capital-, intensive, and that (here’s the dangerous and subtle segue)...
View ArticleBah, Humbug Survey
Herewith a seasonal column (we employ editorial license in so describing it) from Janet Stanton. I know this “tis the season to be jolly,” but I suspect more than a few of you feel more like the Grinch...
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