Planning a Law Firm Retreat: Part I
The rapid growth of law firms in the past decade has created some new and unique management difficulties. With firms’ size, and the complexity of global legal practices, coordinating the availability of partners to perform any management function beyond routine meeting attendance is increasingly difficult. The problem of finding partners to assume leadership roles is […]
Planning a Law Firm Retreat: Part II
Expanded Annual Meeting Many firm’s partnership agreements require an annual meeting for the election of member of management, selection of new partners, approval of compensation and other similar issues. These are important issues, not only because they concern day-to-day operating concerns but because they go to the fabric of what it means to be a […]
Intelligent Design for Law Firms
In a recent issue of Fast Company, an article entitled “The Interpreter” starts out like this: Claudia Kotchka is holding the secret to understanding design at Procter & Gamble in her palm. It’s not a P&G product, but a tin of Altoids®, the “curiously strong” mints produced by Wrigley. As the scent of peppermint oil […]
A Cautionary Tale: Broken Glass
Once upon a time there was a practice group that thought it was special. It thought it could accomplish much more than many of its counterparts within, and outside, the firm. And it came to pass that the practice group did accomplish a number of measurable results. And the firm said it was good… In […]
Be a Cheerleader for Downsizing
To reach their potential in productivity and profitability, greater numbers of firms than ever before have been focusing very seriously on the development of effective practice groups. However, many firms succumb to the temptation of choosing the wrong professionals to head up their practice groups. Historically, firms have tended to make practice leader that individual […]
The Younger Generation
Are generational differences in law firms real—or a product of the firms themselves? This article explores how structural changes in work allocation and partnership tracks may be fueling young lawyer disengagement and high attrition.