Practice Management

"once-in-a-lifetime" - Valorem Law Group

Posted on April 15, 2008
As Nicole Nehama Auerbach joins Valorem, she says: “I saw Valorem as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to really make a difference in the way litigation is handled... I was captivated by the firm’s commitment to provide real value to business clients, and, in particular, its emphasis on alternative fees...

Diversity - Call To Action (CTA) Summit

Posted on March 21, 2008
General Mills' Roderick Palmore According to Roderick Palmore, executive vice president, general counsel and chief compliance and risk management officer at General Mills Inc: "The statistics speak for themselves.  They say our progress in the profession has been disappointing...

What do Bear Stearns and Enron have in common?

Posted on March 17, 2008
The Services Safari Blog posted this yesterday: Calling all Lawyers... The Bear Stearns Collapse The following is an excerpt: Shareholder litigants are going to be talking about this one tonight and tomorrow. Let's recap the fall of Bear Stearns stock price and market value the last year: Stock price last year: $159/share - market cap: $18...

Answer Your Outsourcing Questions

Posted on March 15, 2008
Answer Your Outsourcing Questions Why do some corporations and law firms outsource legal work while others do not? What ethical issues arise in outsourcing legal services? Who is doing the outsourced work and what qualifications do they have? What type of legal work is being outsourced? What are the concerns regarding the outsourcing of patent drafting and patent searches? What impact, if any, will legal outsourcing have on the elite guild nature of the U...

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"economically-irrational" associate salaries hit ceiling

Posted on February 16, 2008
The Wall Street Journal has a post called: Big-Law Associates Facing 2008 Salary Cap by Dan Slater.Here is a key paragraph from that post from which my title was derived: "We called around to firms to find out whether associate salaries, called economically-irrational in some quarters, have finally (or, at least, for now) hit a ceiling...

Private Posting for February 15 Presentation

Posted on February 16, 2008
Participants Only Click Here

Don't let your "winning streak" become a "losing streak"

Posted on February 13, 2008
Is your “winning streak” about to become a “losing streak”?  I believe it is likely unless you prepare for the test you didn’t ask for but are about to take.  Let's be honest, most law firms have had a pretty good run and your partners are well accustomed to it...

Recession-Proof your Law Firm

Posted on January 24, 2008
The worst market crisis in 60 years: "recession or worse"?  Says who? The 80th richest man in the world, George Soros, (estimated net worth of 8.5 Billion according to Forbes).  Is Mr. Soros toying with the "D" word: "Depression" when he says "recession or worse"? I recommend that you read the entire Financial Times (FT) article dated January 22, 2008: The worst market crisis in 60 years...

The Edge International Managing Partners Strategy Summit

Posted on January 22, 2008
Gary Wingens of Lowenstein Sandler and Frank Burch of DLA Piper listen to Dan DiPietro of Citibank forecasting a tough 2008 at the Army and Navy Club in Washington DC during The Edge International Managing Partners Strategy Summit Last week, my Edge International partner Robert Millard and I hosted a very private, personal, invitation only, Strategy Summit for the Managing Partners of 10 law firms to explore: •    key strategic issues facing law firms today •    what law firms are doing to address these issues •    what constitutes "best practice" in the law firm strategy process The managing partners represented firms ranging from the largest in the world (DLA Piper) to a tiny, brand new firm with a highly innovative business model (Valorem Law Group...

American and Canadian Lawyers - IMPORTANT & TIME SENSITIVE

Posted on December 06, 2007
The most important thing you can do for our profession today is to visit the ABA or CBA and sign your respective petition to assist lawyers in Pakistan.  I have never asked before but how about forwarding this to every lawyer in your firm.

Thanks for the nomination but I am not running for office

Posted on December 02, 2007
I liked this: Your legal blog has been selected by the ABA Journal as one of the 100 best websites for lawyers, by lawyers. Congratulations! I liked this even more: “Our list of the 100 best lawyer blogs is the cream of the crop from our directory of more than 1,500 blawgs in dozens of categories, including blawgs focused on almost every state, law school and major federal court in the nation...

New York Times suggests top law firms seem absolutely irrational

Posted on December 01, 2007
Here’s the actual quote:  Lawyers are smart, but this herd mentality seems absolutely irrational, economically speaking — and not because the compensation is too high. The top law firms have been stuck in copycat mode for years. As soon as one of them raises salaries for associates, the others fall in line almost immediately...

Mo Fo's new Mo Jo

Posted on November 26, 2007
After a 15 year COO/Executive-Director drought, Morrison & Foerster is making a move that is more akin to the behaviour of British and Australian firms than American ones – they have looked outside the firm and indeed outside the legal profession to fill their new Chief Operating Officer Position...

Some Lawyers Get Perks for Health and Happiness

Posted on November 23, 2007
The New York Times Business section included an article yesterday called:  For Lawyers, Perks to Fit a Lifestyle. The article alluded to a variety of perks including money, candied apples, milkshakes, car discounts, valet services, wine, office parties, in-office gourmet meals on silver platters, nap rooms, child care, emergency nanny services, sabbaticals and even an occasional masseuse...

Hero: Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry asks lawyers to sacrifice

Posted on November 06, 2007
Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry -- fired by Musharraf Saturday -- in a phone call to a gathering of lawyers urged them to go to "every corner of Pakistan and give the message that this is the time to sacrifice." This in the face of: "Baton-wielding police fought with lawyers outside courthouses in Islamabad and Lahore again Tuesday, arresting dozens more as they enforced Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's crackdown on judicial activism...

Police Use Tear Gas and Batons against Lawyers!

Posted on November 05, 2007
Pakistan attacks the rule of law and beats on lawyers who were attempting to peacefully protest for the most fundamental rights available to human beings.  Every lawyer in the world feels the pain of every brutal blow of the oppressing regime's batons on our profession...

Latest "Edge International Review" Available for Downloading

Posted on October 22, 2007
Click on image to increase size Click here to access magazine and individual articles

If you had been in White and Case's NY boardroom last Thursday...

Posted on October 20, 2007
...you would have seen my Edge International colleague and friend, Robert Millard, present the findings from the latest Managing Partner Forum Survey related to differences in approach to strategy in firms in the United Kingdom vs North America, and also in CPA (Accounting) Firms vs Law Firms...

LOGITHISER - BRAVO EVERSHEDS

Posted on October 19, 2007
click on image for larger view LOGITHISER – a new term for law firms The Logical Empathiser. The accepted wisdom is that anyone who possesses great reason and logic is quite devoid of humanity and warmth. The Logithiser is living proof that wisdom, in this case, is fallacy...

Leaders: Genuine Inspiration from Sir Richard Branson

Posted on October 13, 2007
Is the UK's wealthiest man also its wisest?  If you have about 1/2 hour to sit in on a fascinating conversation with Sir Richard, head over to Adventures in Strategy, my Edge colleague and friend, Robert Millard's blog post: Richard Branson on Life, Succeeding in Business and Everything(Recorded March 2007 in Monterey, California...

Are you biased based on skin colour?

Posted on October 07, 2007
Take this Harvard test and get your own (possibly surprising) results in five minutes. Thank you to The Complete Lawyer for "Test Yourself For Hidden Bias" in the Surveys and Research section.

The Flight of a Bat - Elegant Graphics

Posted on October 03, 2007
Click on Image to enlarge Indulge a father's proud moment as I celebrate the extraordinary work of my son Daniel Riskin (PhD Cornell - now doing post-doctorate work at Brown) along with the other scientists on this project. The sophistication of the analysis of the flight of bats is unprecedented and its rather poetic that a visualization should bring top prize...

A Great Law Firm "Driven to [Self-] Destruction"?

Posted on October 02, 2007
Recipe for disaster: secrecy, unfair competition, deteriorating culture and even a partnership agreement that did not foresee that it was too generous to departing partners if more than a handful left at a time… Joanna Pachner of Canada’s highly respected publication,  Financial Post Business, writes in detail today about how and why the highly respected and profitable Canadian law firm of Goodman & Carr met its demise...

Police Sharpshooter takes aim at Baker & McKenzie Secretary

Posted on September 26, 2007
For the full story, click on the rifle.

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