The following post originally appeared on Forbes | July 7, 2014 In 2002, FMC Technologies had $1.8B in total sales, which were protected and facilitated by an 8 lawyer team, with $14.3M in legal spend ($2.8M internal and $11.5M external), of which, 20% was spent on alternative fee arrangements (AFAs), and held a 2.8 average firm evaluation. In 2013, FMC Technologies had $7.1B in total sales, which were protected and facilitated by a marginally-larger, 12 lawyer team, but with only $9.5M […]
The following post originally appeared on Forbes | July 1, 2014 Adam Bryant, journalist, New York Times bestselling author, and columnist for The New York Times, is quite familiar with the psychologies, values, beliefs, and backgrounds that drive today’s most successful CEOs—perhaps more familiar than the CEOs themselves. As a columnist, Bryant interviews chief executives from all walks of the corporate world for Corner Office, a feature about leadership and management in The New York Times and on NYTimes.com. In […]
The following post originally appeared on Forbes | June 17, 2014 The year is 1978. Roger Cleaver, a senior office-bearer of the Law Society of South Africa (South Africa’s bar association), is attending a business conference, and is listening to a lecture on a subject then quite foreign to the law firms: the principles of effective business-to-business advertising. It was a timely topic, for him and for the legal market in general. The United States Supreme Court had just delivered […]
The following post originally appeared on Forbes | June 11, 2014 Carl von Clausewitz was a Prussian general and military theorist who, while having served in several campaigns and wars—the Rhine Campaigns (1793-1794), the Napoleonic Wars from 1806-1815, the Jena Campaign of 1806, among others— also studied the writings of Immanuel Kant at Kriegsakademie (German War School) in 1801. Though he did not reach the fame that he had hoped for in his lifetime, his writings—most notable of them being On […]
The following post originally appeared on Forbes | June 9, 2014 Chile’s Atacama Desert is a 41,000 sq mi strip that, aside from being little more than stones, salt lakes, sand, and lava flows, is also the driest non-polar desert in the world. The Okavango Delta is an area in Botswana that, along with being extremely arid as well, is also home to some of the most dangerous animals in the world: African bush elephants, hippopotami, Nile crocodiles, lions, hyenas, and […]
The following post originally appeared on Forbes | May 23, 2014 Patton Boggs and Squire Sanders have made it official: Both partnerships have overwhelmingly approved the merger, and the new firm expects to begin operations on June 1st under the name Squire Patton Boggs. “Today marks an important day in the history of our firm. Patton Boggs is the premier public policy firm in the world, and this combination establishes us as the ‘go-to’ firm for public policy work. We […]
The following post originally appeared on Forbes | May 19, 2014 It is difficult to talk about today’s legal market without describing change. Significant financial pressures, increasingly out-of-touch educational processes, a complete shifting of the industry’s revenue model, and more, serve to blur the path forward for many firms. Taking this reality to heart, Akerman LLP, in conjunction with Insight Labs—A Chicago-based foundation designed to develop and disseminate new models for solving social challenges—embarked on an initiative last year called Law2023, […]
The following post originally appeared on Forbes | May 13th, 2014 In a 2011 survey, McKinsey uncovered what they called the globalization penalty: high-performing global companies consistently scored lower than those more locally focused on several dimensions of organizational health. This manifested in challenges surrounding things like establishing a shared vision, encouraging innovation, executing “on the ground,” and building relationships with governments and business partners. And while McKinsey wasn’t focusing on law firms in particular, any international law firms—and certainly […]
The following post originally appeared on Forbes | Apr 8, 2014 “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.” Isoroku Yamamoto Adopting Western political, judicial, and military institutions in the late 19th and early 20th century, Japan was able to grow its population from 35M in 1873 to 70M by 1935. Being on the side of the victorious Allies in World War I greatly widen its influence and territorial […]
The following post originally appeared on Forbes | May 6, 2014 If you’ve seen The Wolf of Wall Street, no doubt the name “Jordan Belfort” rings a bell. A former stockbroker and founder of the brokerage firm Stratton Oakmont, Inc., he defrauded victims to the tune of $110.4M. A name that is perhaps a bit less familiar to you is Joel M. Cohen, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher partner, former Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of New York, and […]