Legal Rebels

Would You Bet Your Career on Your Law Firm’s Business Model?

The latest analyses of BigLaw financials is out, and things do not look good. In a recent article, Dan DiPietro and Gretta Rusanow of Citibank reported their midyear findings for a survey group of 176 firms (79 Am Law 100 firms, 47 Am Law 200 firms and 50 additional firms).…

Aug 21, 2012 1:30 PM CDT

This Year’s Ross Essay Contest Is a Haiku Throwdown: Winners Get a Share of $5,000 in Prize Money

In this year’s Ross Essay Contest, we’re looking for 17 syllables that address one of these five topics: Innovation, Inspiration, Law Practice, On Being a Lawyer or the U.S. Supreme Court. Like every year, only ABA members are eligible to submit their haiku (an unrhymed poem with three lines containing…

Aug 16, 2012 1:45 PM CDT

Is Your Firm Playing ‘Dewey Roulette’?

The question “who is the next Dewey?” comes up a lot these days. Because most law firm financial information isn’t public, that’s not an easy guess to make. But it’s no exaggeration to say there are a number of firms effectively playing a form of “Dewey Roulette,” distributing more than…

Aug 15, 2012 7:52 PM CDT

Want Quality? Learn to Operate

Let’s talk about two doctors, and consider who is the most talented, the most important. Brenda Brain Surgeon is the chief of Neurosurgery at Mass General Hospital. Brenda has nimble hands, deep insight, and a calm demeanor. She excelled through four years of medical school, six years of residency, and…

Jul 26, 2012 6:45 PM CDT

Make New Friends by Keeping the Old: New Normal Rules for Business Development

Because of my strong contacts in the in-house legal community and my experience working with them on their outside counsel relationships, I’m asked by a lot of outside lawyers and firm business development professionals for advice on generating new business from in-house counsel, especially since the goalposts and the playing…

Jul 2, 2012 3:07 PM CDT

5 Things Lawyers (and Innovators) Can Learn From College Football Coach Mike Leach

There is something you probably don’t know about Mike Leach. He toiled through law school and has a law degree. Then he did what very few law grads do—Mike Leach struck out to coach college football. I was invited to speak at a conference in Texas on the Lessons and…

Jun 26, 2012 1:30 PM CDT

Questions an Inquiry Commission Might Have About the Dewey & LeBoeuf Crash

When a plane crashes, the National Transportation Safety Board dispatches an investigative team to understand the causes and prevent future crashes. When the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated, the Columbia Accident Investigation Board assessed the causes of the disaster. When the financial markets crashed in 2007, Congress (following in the footsteps…

Jun 25, 2012 1:30 PM CDT

Find a Collaborator to Keep You On the Right Track

When I started practicing law, I worked with a number of partners at the same time. It was an unwritten rule that you didn’t talk with Partner A about the case you were handling with Partner B. Partner A never spoke with Partner B about her cases either, even when…

Jun 19, 2012 3:15 PM CDT

Our Curious Attitude Toward ‘Selling’

I read with interest the comments on my confrere Pat Lamb’s recent post “Lawyers Are Not Special”. What struck me in particular was a deep aversion among many commenters to “selling.” I’m not sure where that aversion comes from, but seems to be rooted in a Death of a Salesman-esque…

Jun 14, 2012 2:51 PM CDT

Lawyers Are Not Special–The Rules that Apply to Other Businesses Apply to Us

“We’re different.” When lawyers say this, they really mean: “We’re special. We, among all others, are immune from the criticism or point of needed improvement.” It drives me crazy. At a reception after a recent speech, I was talking to a young partner and a senior in-house lawyer at a…

Jun 5, 2012 1:30 PM CDT

On the Road with the New Normal ‘Mishpocheh’

One of the more popular Yiddish terms is mishpocheh, or extended family. Increasingly, people use mishpocheh to mean network or group of collaborators. Long before anyone ever heard of Facebook or memes, it was recognized that ideas are transmitted and developed through networks, see, e.g. the spread of Christianity or…

May 31, 2012 6:30 PM CDT

The Competitive Analysis Underlying Bartlit Beck

Looking at the current challenges in legal practice, I thought back over how we came to found our firm. In the late 1980s, a few colleagues began to discuss the concepts that led to the founding of Bartlit Beck. We puzzled over the bizarre views of quality and efficiency that…

May 30, 2012 4:30 PM CDT

A New Dispute Resolution Game Plan Inspired by America’s Favorite Pastime

Business disputes are not for the faint of heart. Dispute resolution focuses to a great degree on process, designed to accomplish the end of a fair trial or a fair hearing. That so few cases are actually tried seems irrelevant in an effort to foster a fair path toward trial.…

May 23, 2012 1:54 PM CDT

A (Don’t Be) Dewey Dozen: Use This Checklist to Make Sure Your Firm Isn’t Dewey

In 1984 and again in 1987, I worked hard to get Gary Hart elected president. Suffice to say I wasn’t happy about the way that experience ended, and for a long time thereafter whenever someone saw the Hart reference on my resumé they would give me a sideways glance and…

May 15, 2012 1:30 PM CDT

The Zuckerberg Challenge

I enjoyed the recent ABA Journal story about the report that Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Facebook, negotiated the acquisition of Instagram for $1 billion with Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom without using lawyers (at least initially). The story—and especially the reader comments—illustrated the gulf between the Silicon Valley…

May 11, 2012 10:08 PM CDT