At the recent Georgetown Law Center conference on Law Firm Evolution, Harvard Law School professor David Wilkins urged the conference attendees to confront the challenge of managing the “paradox of professional distinctiveness.” In his talk, he ...[Read More]

I had the honor of facilitating the opening panel Sunday night at Georgetown Law Center’s conference on the evolution of large law firms. Aric Press of the American Lawyer described it as "lively," and I would agree that it was a vigor ...[Read More]

Last Thursday night, in his dinner remarks to a Chicago gathering of alumni and current students, Interim Dean Sunil Chopra of Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management talked about some of the core principles underlying teaching at ...[Read More]

I reported earlier that change was in the air at the 15th Annual Law Firm Leaders Forum in San Francisco.  An area where many firms are already well on their way to implementing change is in shape of the firm from a professional staff perspectiv ...[Read More]

Last Thursday night, in his remarks to a dinner gathering of alums and current students, Interim Dean Sunil Chopra of Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management made several comments highly relevant to the legal industry today.  (I w ...[Read More]

Wow.  The ABA Journal’s story about my last blog post, That’s Just for Big Firms… generated a fair amount of attention.  Thank you all for jumping into this debate – and thank you to whoever brought it to my attention by copying the debate into ...[Read More]

Ralph Baxter (Chairman of Orrick) and Brad Hildebrandt (Chairman of Hildebrandt Baker Robbins) co-chaired the 15th Annual Law Firm Leaders Forum last week in San Francisco.  The program was terrific and panelists included Bill Perlstein of Wilme ...[Read More]

I must confess that I secretly love the opulence of law firms and the awe-inspiring feeling you get when exiting the elevator on the 30th floor of a downtown building with spectacular views of the waterfront. But as firms re-examine their busine ...[Read More]

In various conversations recently I’ve been reminded of the dangers of resistance to change inherent in most organizations, and most notably in law firms.  And midsize firms are right now at serious risk. Last year, in spite of all the challeng ...[Read More]

As one managing partner put it: “One of the things that makes this business unique is that my primary assets go up and down the elevator each night.”  Law firms, as organizations, are human capital intensive. The best firms have always recognize ...[Read More]