For some years, law firm strategists have talked about the concept of segmentation.   In a book I wrote four years ago I explained the concept: “Segmentation – which divides law firms into groups serving the different types of potential clients with broadly similar needs and perceptions of value – describes the layers of the cake …

This article first appeared in Managing Partner Magazine in April 2013 and is reproduced with their permission.

In my Ark Special Report “Tackling Partner Underperformance in Law Firms” I attempted to define underperformance in terms of the failure to meet the firm’s standards of performance or behaviour.  It is always difficult to judge when a partner’s …

A couple of years ago I posted quite a long piece on my blog entitled “Partner Roles and Responsibilities”. I suggested some methodologies for a firm to follow in order first to clarify what the firm expects of its partners and then to define what roles and responsibilities it needs them to perform.

I also set …

The Future of Law

Will the Empire Fight Back?

I don’t want to contribute yet more dire predictions to the welter of doom-laden prognostications about the future of the legal profession. It’s not that I think they are necessarily wrong, as I agree with many of the sentiments expressed by leading pundits such as Susskind and …

This article first appeared in Managing Partner Magazine Volume 15 Issue 6 in March 2013 and is reproduced with their permission

The majority of law firm leaders want to be liked and to pursue strategic objectives which are popular and engaging. The danger however is that in trying to please everybody, the managing artner ends …

This article first appeared in Managing Partner Magazine Volume 15 Issue 5 in February 2013 and is reproduced with their permission

A combination of recessional pressures and the tide of commoditisation has led to widespread discussion of the ‘new normal’ in which law firms are predicted to continue to decline in profitability and – in …

It is interesting to note two recent trends in large law firms across the world. First, there was the now notorious demise of the US firm Dewey & LeBoeuf in which back bench partners appear to have been left powerless, uninformed and disenfranchised as the firm’s leadership cabal drove the firm onto the …

Sheltering under the global umbrella of a leading network or alliance has long been a favoured option for independent law firms. It gives them the best of all worlds by maintaining their own autonomies, their own brands and their distinctive identities at the same time as appearing to be part of something a lot bigger.

There …

This article first appeared in Managing Partner in October 2012 under the title “Set baseline standards for all partners, regardless of performance levels”.

The management of top and bottom line performance forms a key role for the leaders of any organisation.  Integral to this is the enforcement of performance standards. There is, no doubt, a philosophical …

Given the recent news of transatlantic merger discussions, the latest edition of the Edge International Review (http://www.edge.ai/files/eir_fall_2012_issue_v1.3.pdf) is extremely timely. In it, amongst other articles my partner Ed Wesemann and I examone the Swiss Verein model and the text of this article is produced below

Enter the Swiss Verein: 21st century global platform or just …