Is the UK’s wealthiest man also its wisest?  If you have about 1/2 hour to sit in on a fascinating conversation with Sir Richard, head over to Adventures in Strategy, my Edge colleague and friend, Robert Millard’s blog post: Richard Branson on Life, Succeeding in Business and Everything
(Recorded March 2007 in Monterey, California. Duration: 30:44.)

I am very biased – Richard Branson is one of my heroes – nevertheless I will risk exclaiming that there is no Managing Partner who could experience this discussion and not be inspired.


Click on Image to enlarge

Indulge a father’s proud moment as I celebrate the extraordinary work of my son Daniel Riskin (PhD Cornell – now doing post-doctorate work at Brown) along with the other scientists on this project. The sophistication of the analysis of the flight of bats is unprecedented and its rather poetic that a visualization should bring top prize.

The only link to law is the inspiration of breaking new ground through applied innovation – perhaps in our legal profession, we should simply be inspired to follow suit in our own ways.

For those who wish to read more, see  Flying bat graphics win award for Brown scientists; CT scan, nature tie for top photo prize

Recipe for disaster: secrecy, unfair competition, deteriorating culture and even a partnership agreement that did not foresee that it was too generous to departing partners if more than a handful left at a time…

Joanna Pachner of Canada’s highly respected publication,  Financial Post Business, writes in detail today about how and why the highly respected and profitable Canadian law firm of Goodman & Carr met its demise.

Punchline:  If you are on the senior management team of your law firm, this may be a beacon of what to avoid in your own firm’s future.  And, integrity drives me to day this, based on my own experience working with law firms globally, many firms have some of these destructive elements already in place.  Perhaps the question is: when the tipping point is reached (that leads to a firm’s ultimate demise).  If you care about your own firm, read this article: Driven to [Self-] Destruction Financial Post Business, October 2, 2007.


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 to notice – I think Robert has illuminated it for us.  (Click on image to increase size – here or in Robert’s post)

Today’s front page Wall Street Journal Online article is compulsory reading for all law firm Managing Partners and H.R. professionals:

Hard Case: Job Market ?Wanes for U.S. Lawyers – Growth of Legal Sector Lags Broader Economy; Law Schools Proliferate
By AMIR EFRATI, September 24, 2007; Page A1

While the article admittedly says:

“For graduates of elite law schools, prospects have never been better.  Big law firms this year boosted their starting salaries to as high as $160,000.”

It goes on to say:

“But the majority of law-school graduates are suffering from a supply-and-demand imbalance that’s suppressing pay and job growth. The result: Graduates who don’t score at the top of their class are struggling to find well-paying jobs to make payments on law-school debts that can exceed $100,000. Some are taking temporary contract work, reviewing documents for as little as $20 an hour, without benefits. And many are blaming their law schools for failing to warn them about the dark side of the job market.”

PUNCHLINE:  My pre-law was comprised of a business degree which included a healthy dose of economics – it doesn’t mean I am right but here are my views (you decide what they are worth):

1)      The balloon of increasing salaries at top firms (and "top firm wannabees") is going to SHRINK if not BURST.  Fewer firms will compete with the top tier starting salaries and therefore average starting salaries will fall (in real terms –  adjusted for inflation).

2)      Mainstream firms (including many if not most of the AMLAW 200 and other major firms around the world) will find their appetite for enormous associate salaries waning in favor of dipping slightly deeper into the pool of candidates and offering top-third students in good schools much more than they might otherwise make (but  less than recruits at the firms who continue to compete in the perceived feeding frenzy).

3)      It’s not just the money!  It’s the student loan!  Students want respect, training, good work, a chance to know the names of their children, future prospects and a way to service their enormous public and private debt.  So pay well (but not like you are trying to hire Angelina Jolie for the lead in your next movie), find a creative way to “help them with their student loan” and return your focus to where it has always belonged – making your firm a great place to practice law.  (The following illustration relating to student loans is one of nine very useful illustrations included in the article – click on image to enlarge):


Footnote:  How quickly things change:  A three-month economic history on this blog site:

New Lawyer Jobs (US) Up by Largest Percentage since 2000 Posted July 17, 2007
Excerpt: "90 percent of 2006 law school graduates found jobs by February, 2007"

Doom and Gloom for the legal profession – it’s coming Posted August 3rd, 2007
Excerpt: "How much longer can the legal profession remain insulated from the market realities?"

And today this post  Sharp Pin Approaching Associate Salary Balloon

Time is flying!  Stay tuned.  

(I’ve got a song lyrics stuck in my head "What goes up must come down" from Spinning Wheel by David Clayton Thomas of Blood Sweat and Tears (click for full original lyrics and you can get it stuck in your head too)

Harvard Business Online has a coach named Marshall Goldsmith who has written or co-edited 22 books.  In answer to the question:

How Do I Provide Meaningful Recognition?

Marshall references the following:

  1. List the names of the key groups of people that impact your life — both at work and at home (customers, co-workers, friends, family members, etc.).
  2. Write down the names of the people in each group.
  3. Post your list in a place you can’t miss seeing regularly.
  4. Twice a week — once on Wednesday, once on Friday — review the list and ask yourself, “Did anyone on this list do something that I should recognize?”
  5. If someone did, stop by to say "thank you," make a quick phone call, leave a voice mail, send an email, or jot down a note.
  6. Don’t do anything that takes up too much time. This process needs to be time-efficient or you won’t stick with it.
  7. If no one on the list did anything that you believe should be recognized, don’t say anything. You don’t want to be a hypocrite or a phony. No recognition is better than recognition that you don’t really mean.
  8. Stick with the process. You won’t see much impact in a week – but you will see a huge difference in a year.

PUNCHLINE:  Many of the Managing Partners and Practice Group Leaders I serve do not have time for business publications (there are notable exceptions, of course).  Perhaps this introduction to Harvard Business Online will whet the appetite for and lead to requesting a free subscription.  The eight items above may not be perfect for your situation but I hope it stimulates your deciding the kind of recognition protocol you want to follow.

Read the entire Harvard Business Online post: How Do I Provide Meaningful Recognition?

Lovells offers a “try out” Critical Thinking test which you can take right now, anonymously.

Lovells is one of the largest international business legal practices, with over three thousand people operating from 26 offices in Europe, Asia and the United States.

It is amusing to hear Americans debate the non-constitutionality of asking applicants to submit to testing while the rest of the world has absolutely no problem with it and in fact sees significant benefits.  I will leave that debate to others but thought you might have some fun with a sample test.

Take Lovells’ Critical Thinking test HERE. 

PUNCHLINE:  Enjoy!!  I’ll tell you my score if you tell me yours!

NOTE  The test is no longer accessible