Dispatches from a legal profession on the brink
Filed under: Billing, Innovation, New Lawyers, Outsourcing
Momentum is one of those things everyone talks about but nobody can ever precisely define or quantify. It’s that sense that things are turning around or gathering speed in a certain direction, usually for the better — with a corollary borrowed from physics that the larger the object and the greater its velocity, the more… Read more »
Filed under: Competition, Governance, Innovation
North American lawyers have been fretting lately about the effects of this recession and what it means for their future. But the recession is only an amplifier or accelerator of change, not its source, and it doesn’t tell us much about the shape of things to come. If you really want to know what the… Read more »
Filed under: Big Firms, Law School, Talent
It’s a small thing, but it’s been bothering me disproportionately, so I want to say a few words about one of my least favourite current phrases in the law: “the best and the brightest.” It’s normally used in a talent recruitment or institutional marketing capacity to describe the very small group of the very best… Read more »
Filed under: Compensation, Law School, New Lawyers
My newest column has been posted at Slaw, winner of the Canadian Association of Law Librarians’ 2009 Hugh Lawford Award for Excellence in Legal Publishing. It’s the latest honour for Canada’s best legal website, and yet another reason to read this post there and take in the rest of the terrific content.
Filed under: Big Firms, Billing, New Lawyers, Purpose, Satisfaction, Talent
I think we’ll soon be closing the book on one of the legal profession’s most-used and least-understood phrases of the last decade: “work-life balance.” It was still all the rage just a couple of years ago — new lawyers invoked it as a mantra, talent recruiters bandied it about, and many legal publications (including those… Read more »
Filed under: Management, Marketing
Timothy Corcoran’s excellent and essential new blog tracks and expands upon a provocative article at the AmLaw Daily called “How essential is a CMO?” As many large firms scale back their marketing spending or lose their Chief Marketing Officers, Tim finds both lawyers and marketers can share some blame. I was especially drawn to this… Read more »
Filed under: Management
You know the old expression, “Life’s not a destination, it’s a journey”? I have to say, it’s never worked for me. I’m all about the destination — the journey is the time-consuming necessity between Point A and Point B that I’d dispense with if I could. I don’t have much interest in the scenic route… Read more »
Filed under: Careers, New Lawyers, Recession
It’s rare that a reader asks me to write something on a specific topic, rarer still that multiple requests for the same subject come in. So the fact that a few people have now asked for a post about law students and the recession indicates just how much anxiety is rising in law schools and… Read more »
Filed under: Marketing, Publishing
I’ve been on Twitter for a little more than six months now, and in that time, I’ve assembled a loose collection of reasons not to follow people. As a general rule, I won’t follow your Twitter feed if: your Twitter account doesn’t show your name or link to a web page you’ve been on Twitter… Read more »
Filed under: Law21
Blawg Review #207: All the News That Fits April 13, 2009 Section A – News The Recession Prosecutors on the Ropes Same-sex Marriage Section B – World International Justice Spotlight: Canada Section C – Business Law Practice Innovation Google Copyright Section D – Life Section E – Sports Section F – Technology Section G –… Read more »
