PUNCHLINE: (yes, I’ll start with it) Managing Partners: I don’t think you should downsize now unless you absolutely have to. It’s a rough world out there – you should have cut the underperformers a long time ago. BUT, if you HAVE TO, if you MUST, then learn from one of the most successful and business savvy people out there, Guy Kawasaki – read
Many of my law firm clients tell me that one of their biggest "people" problems is that some people just don’t work well with others – why? because they don’t always get along.
Enter a brilliant post by Marelisa Fabrega (lawyer/blogger/woman-extraordinaire) called 30 Tips for Getting Along With Others
You might want to get Marelisa’s
Law Professor William D. Henderson (click on photo for bio)
Managing Partners and law firm H.R. Executives should contemplate the meaning of Indiana University School of Law’s Prof. Bill Henderson’s post: "How the ‘Cravath System’ Created the Bi-Modal Distribution."
Professor Henderson builds on the work of NALP (The National Association for Law
General Mills’ Roderick Palmore
According to Roderick Palmore, executive vice president, general counsel and chief compliance and risk management officer at General Mills Inc:
"The statistics speak for themselves. They say our progress in the profession has been disappointing."
Attention Managing Partners:
More than 100 general counsel executives of Fortune 500 companies and managing partners
The Wall Street Journal has a post called: Big-Law Associates Facing 2008 Salary Cap by Dan Slater.
Here is a key paragraph from that post from which my title was derived:
"We called around to firms to find out whether associate salaries, called economically-irrational in some quarters, have finally (or, at least, for now) hit
Here’s the actual quote:
Lawyers are smart, but this herd mentality seems absolutely irrational, economically speaking — and not because the compensation is too high. The top law firms have been stuck in copycat mode for years. As soon as one of them raises salaries for associates, the others fall in line almost immediately.
Later
The New York Times Business section included an article yesterday called: For Lawyers, Perks to Fit a Lifestyle.
The article alluded to a variety of perks including money, candied apples, milkshakes, car discounts, valet services, wine, office parties, in-office gourmet meals on silver platters, nap rooms, child care, emergency nanny services, sabbaticals and even
click on image for larger view
LOGITHISER – a new term for law firms
The Logical Empathiser. The accepted wisdom is that anyone who possesses great reason and logic is quite devoid of humanity and warmth. The Logithiser is living proof that wisdom, in this case, is fallacy. Yes, Logithisers are capable of shutting down
Take this Harvard test and get your own (possibly surprising) results in five minutes.
Thank you to The Complete Lawyer for "Test Yourself For Hidden Bias" in the Surveys and Research section.
Supplemental to my post "Sharp Pin Approaching Associate Salary Balloon", my friend and Edge colleague Robert Millard has created a post which may impacts the context for discussing associate salaries. He explains his title: America’s Two Legal Professions with the graphic above. Read his post for a detailed explanation. Sometimes critical change is too subtle
