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James Surowiecki’s article in this past week’s The New Yorker reviews the rise, decline and near or total collapse of “category killer” businesses like CompUSA, Circuit City, Toys R Us, Home Depot and most recently Barnes & Noble and Blockbuster. Why were these businesses, which enjoyed enormous success for a significant period of time…

What recession? Slater & Gordon, the Australian firm, has been on a roll, buying up 10 firms over the last 3 years, realizing a 21% increase in revenues for 2009-2010, along with a 16% increase in PEP, both modest compared to the 27% increase in revenues and 42% increase in net profit achieved in 2008-2009. 

How are they doing that? S&G was the first…

The most interesting question, in my opinion, that was asked of me and Peter Zeugheuser at last Thursday’s CCM audio conference on Origination Credit and Partner Compensation for the New Legal Landscape was not really within the purview of the topic.  It was "does compensation really work as an incentive?"  

The topic–for a broadly diverse audience–was an overview of law…

In an effort to profit from the demand for more cost-effective legal services, law firms are considering offering a broader range of services themselves and/or entering into collaborative endeavors with other organizations–law firms, legal providers or non-lawyers, in some cases even servicing other law firms.

For example, some firms are entering the market for unbundled, separately-priced litigation support services by adding specific expertise and staff as an …

Muir will co-present with Peter Zeughauser an audio conference hosted by Center for Competitive Management (CCM) on Thursday September 30, 2010 from 2:00 pm to 3:15 EST.  "Origination Credit and Partner Compensation for the New Legal Landscape" will include discussions of what origination is and how to measure it, what role origination plays in changing compensation systems, the impact of the…

Back when we were all focused on raising our retention rate of associates, I also waved the flag about the poor retention rate we have with the lateral partners we hire–a musical chair game that has been in full swing for a number of years and seems to have survived or at least is being revived after…

There are only two bases on which most legal services are ultimately judged: 1) outcome and 2) interpersonal interaction.  Of course, price is important but a wide range in price is tolerated as a function of 1 and 2.

It can be very difficult for a client to judge outcome — what part of the results in a…

A new book out this year entitled Beyond Right and Wrong: The Power of Effective Decision Making for Attorneys and Clients by Randall Kiser analyzes 11,306 attorney-client decisions in actual litigation matters and summarizes over 40 years of research regarding judge, jury, litigant and attorney decision making.

Settling Better than Going to Trial?

One of

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David Brooks’ editorial in the Friday, July 23rd New York Times was on morality, in particular the type which naturalists view as another outcome of evolution. The naturalist position is that, much as we have over time developed receptors for sweetness and saltiness, we have also developed receptors that recognize fairness and cruelty. 

At a…

The American Lawyer recently published its A-List, AmLaw’s "look beyond pure dollars to quantify the 20 most successful law firms."  What it "looks" at to make that assessment is revenue per lawyer, pro bono commitment, diversity and associate satisfaction. 

AmLaw tips its hand about the continuing importance of dollars by double weighting revenue per lawyer, but also double…