True Partnerships Reward Partner-Like Behavior
January 01, 2017
A true partnership requires a compensation structure that rewards partner-like behavior — collegiality, mentoring, expansion and transition of client relationships to fellow partners, and a consensus to pursue long-term strategies promoting institutional stability rather than maximizing short-term profit metrics.
Elite Law Firms Increasingly Suing Clients to Collect Fees
January 01, 2017
In an era when demand for legal services is softening, the country's largest firms are increasingly going to court and arbitration against their former clients to collect fees in what consultants say is the "new normal."
Estate Planning for the Digital Afterlife
January 01, 2017
This article discusses the importance of accounting for digital assets in an estate plan, provides practical considerations for handling their disposition after death, and describes the current state of the law for the handling of digital assets after death.
Cyberinsurance Considerations for Law Firms
December 02, 2016
Law firms spend a lot of time and effort to protect their clients' interests, but often overlook routine protection and security of clients' (and their own) data. While not a cure-all for data security risks, one important component to consider in putting together a comprehensive data security program is cyber insurance, as most general liability policies and professional liability policies now expressly exclude coverage for data breach claims.
Estate Planning for the Digital Afterlife
December 02, 2016
As more Americans establish personal email accounts, social media accounts, and other electronic accounts, these “digital assets” are becoming an increasingly vital estate-planning consideration. The failure to consider how to dispose of digital assets in an individual's estate plan could result in later complexities following the individual's death.
Retiring Boomers Pose Big Challenges For Firms
November 01, 2016
The boomer generation — 75 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964 — and a tiny cadre of over-70s Silent Generation lawyers currently make up just under half of partners at Am Law 200 firms. As partners with the greatest seniority, they constitute a majority in the equity and management ranks, and control an outsize share of client relationships. The impacts of retirement are amplified because a long surge in hiring and promotion that began when boomers entered law firms has halted since the financial crisis.
On the Hot Seat: Five Must-Haves for Today's Am Law 100 Chief Operating Officers
November 01, 2016
Over the years, the structure of law firms has shifted from a geographical model to a practice group model. Rather than placing leaders in each geographical office, law firm practice group leaders have more power. As law firms have evolved in size, reach, and complexity, so too has the need for seasoned executives to manage the business of law.
