Employer

Good managing partners can be worth their weight in gold, yet many firms regard them as overhead when determining how they should be paid. READ MORE >

Short-term and long-term tactics for managing in the economic downturn. READ MORE >

One of the stark new realities facing law firm leaders and managers across the country is a dramatic increase in the risk of significant liabilities that can affect their firms. READ MORE >

Looking across many European jurisdictions, similar trends are apparent in the way national markets are segmenting. READ MORE >

When it comes to recruiting, law firms get as much out of their efforts as they put into them. As a result, is it a surprise to hear partners complain that their firms are not attracting as much top talent as they once did. READ MORE >

Obtaining client feedback serves many purposes—from helping firms make decisions based on fact to testing assumptions for initiatives to providing a mechanism for comparison with competitors. Most important a feedback program assesses client satisfaction and provides a road map for improvement. READ MORE >

This is an exciting time to be a new partner in a law firm. The legal market has experienced several years of record profits and growth while the global market as a whole continues to become smaller. The profession will undoubtedly continue with its metamorphosis as Generation X infiltrates the law firm partnership ranks. READ MORE >

Law firms that take a short-term view on talent during an economic downturn will find themselves paying the price. Rather than a cutting-back period, the breather afforded by a slowdown in work is a good time to redouble efforts on a review of the firm’s recruiting policies and practices, and its approach to professional development. READ MORE >

''Sir, she said, ''you see before you one who, like our Sainted Lincoln, burns to serve through the medium of the law.'' READ MORE >

This year, the managing partners in a number of law firms around the country will step down from their posts and watch as new leaders take on their firm’s top management position. Most often, the change in a firm's leadership happens smoothly, is viewed as a positive move internally and has little immediate impact on the firm as a whole. Unfortunately, we also have witnessed problematic transitions that disrupt the firm and invariably lead to hard feelings. Given the leadership changes planned throughout the country, it is a good time to address some of the challenges former managing partners and their successors may face during the transition period. READ MORE >

Retain More Associates by Taking a New Approach to Training and Development

A recent study confirms what training and development experts and law firm professional development directors have long recognized: that specific initiatives in associate training and professional development are critical in reducing attrition rates of young lawyers. But the traditional law firm approach to training and development is not the solution. READ MORE >

Unless you've been in the cast of ''Survivor,'' you are aware that associate salaries have taken a dramatic jump in recent months. Law firms across the country, and certainly in Washington, have had to grapple with the impact that rising associate salaries will have on their firm. READ MORE >

Law firms are in an enviable position—the demand for legal services is at an all-time high; profits are growing by leaps and bounds at many firms; the high-tech “new economy” is creating new legal needs; and the end of the growth period is not in sight. Unfortunately, legal industry growth is occurring at the same time that unprecedented numbers of associates are leaving their firms for other firms, or quitting the industry altogether. Currently, very few associates stay with their first law firm for more than two to three years. For many firms, the combination of a high workload and an inability to retain associates is stretching firm resources to the breaking point. READ MORE >

It seems as though the number of female partners currently working in law firms is becoming fewer and fewer these days. A lot of female partners are fleeing from firms due to a lack of balance in their work and professional lives, and also because of an absence of support or mentoring. In this article, I am going to discuss some of the ways that firms can attract and retain female partners. As many women in this country opt to pursue law as their professional career, those firms on the forefront of female partner retention efforts will benefit greatly by attracting existing female partner talent and those up and coming women attorneys who represent the next generation of female partner candidates. READ MORE >

I was recently quoted in IPLaw360 in a piece on Wal-Mart's ill-conceived memo trying to rein in associate rates charged them for work. The upshot is that Wal-Mart wants no rate increases unless an individual memo is approved as to the individual worth of each attorney billing on a matter. Other than the fact that I cannot believe such a procedure would ever be put into practice on a consistent, to say nothing of a long-term, basis, the plan will of course backfire on Wal-Mart, at least from the law firm point of view. READ MORE >

Years ago, while representing a client in an M&A deal as the head of the ERISA group at the now-defunct Hutchins, Wheeler & Dittmar PC, Carol C. Brown was intrigued to learn that the lawyer on the other side of the deal was from a boutique whose sole focus was the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

Today, Brown and former Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC employee practice group head C. Stephen Parker Jr. have their own ERISA boutique, Parker & Brown PC in Boston. READ MORE >

As we grow and our organization experiences various changes, I think it is important that everyone here understand what we are doing as a group. Whether or not we realize it, these philosophies are something that guide us on a daily basis. READ MORE >

In our effort to provide a truly national recruiting service to America's top lawyers, we at BCG Attorney Search have opened our newest office in the nation's capital. The D.C. legal market is one of the largest and most fluid in the country and our newest office is designed to make it easier for the best legal job candidates to find employment in one of the busiest markets in the country. You can read more about our new office and BCG Partner by clicking the link below. READ MORE >

The first and most important step of the legal-recruiting process, building long-term client relationships with law firms, is too often ignored or underestimated by many recruiters. Strong relationships are what allow a firm to trust a recruiter with its hiring decisions and are actually critical to any recruiter's effectiveness. Building this trust is far more rewarding than making an individual deal or placement, although it often takes much more effort and consideration for the client's needs. To this end, a good recruiter must always look to deepen its business relationships into partnerships and take into account whether an attorney he/she represents will benefit that attorney's partners as much as that attorney's placement will benefit his/her own interests. READ MORE >

In the 1980's, the professional world was introduced to a new term of art: the so-called trailing spouse. Trailing spouse syndrome has been generally defined as the effect the relocation of one's spouse has on one's professional trajectory. More specifically, the trailing spouse subordinates his or her own career in order to allow his or her partner to advance professionally. Since many spouses and partners possess their own distinct professional identities, relocation for a new job (even with the same employer) affects not only the candidate, but the spouse as well. READ MORE >

There is a select group of candidates that everybody wants, and you know the type we are talking about. Excellent credentials, highly desired practice group, and a great personality to boot. The age-old question for law firms: How do we most effectively recruit these top candidates? READ MORE >