Aug
14
Big Four goliath Ernst & Young (EY) announced it will be acquiring Riverview, a UK-based alternative legal service provider (ALSP). The deal has drawn considerable media coverage. “Big deal or big yawn?” industry pundits are asking. My take: This is another indication of an evolving, competitive, global legal industry. Not only are...
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Aug
13
Last month I wrote an article, When the Numbers Don't Add Up: Vermont Law School's Tenured Faculty Purge and What It Portends. It cast a harsh light on the economics of Vermont Law School (VLS), noting the all-in $70K annual cost of attendance, $122K national average law grad debt; 2.71...
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Aug
06
The American Bar Association (ABA) is mired in a slump. The once-venerable organization, about to mark its 140th birthday, is awash in bad news. Membership is declining; revenue is down; last year’s operating deficit was $7.7M, prompting an $11M budget reduction; lay-offs and offered buyouts are rampant; and a former-employee embezzled $1.3M from the organization....
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Jul
23
Vermont Law School (Vermont) recently announced it had issued pink slips to 14 of its 19 tenured faculty members. This is not the first time a law school has terminated tenured professors for something other than sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll. Albany Law School, Charleston Law, and others have traveled that...
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Jul
16
A recent speech to a global network of lawyers and accountants highlighted the curious relationship they share. Lawyers and accountants are simultaneously collaborators and competitors. The paradox is reconciled by separating the professional and business/organizational elements of their dynamic. Lawyers and accountants share several common challenges and often collaborate. At...
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Jul
05
Law is staging its own version of “every kid gets a trophy.” Its award season is longer than baseball’s, and the list of award categories rivals the Oscars. Every week, all over the globe, the legal industry throws gala dinners to celebrate its “innovators,” “visionaries,” and “pioneers.” These gatherings afford...
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Jun
28
“Time is Money” wrote Benjamin Franklin in a 1748 essay titled Advice to a Young Tradesman. Franklin was a polymath–scientist, statesman, publisher, inventor and diplomat. Is it coincidence that he was almost everything except an attorney? Lawyers have a different take on time than other industries. The legal profession uses...
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Jun
15
Milbank Tweed created an industry-wide stir when it announced recently a bump in first-year associate salary to $190K per year. The firm will also award $10K-$15K raises to incumbent associates. This comes at a time when many clients are openly revolting against the use of high-priced, inexperienced associates. Mark Smolik,...
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Jun
05
Law is seldom associated with entrepreneurs. Lawyers are a cautious bunch focused on precedent, risk containment, and tend to be reactive–not innovative. Entrepreneurs are a different breed. They create new business models in response to market voids, deploying risk capital to achieve customer satisfaction and scale. Entrepreneurs require passion, knowledge,...
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May
24
‘Legal innovation’ is no longer an oxymoron. The staid, precedent bound, legal guild is slowly morphing into something different. The contours of the new legal order are still being shaped and the dominant players have yet to emerge. Even confirmed industry Luddites concede the legal profession/industry is changing. Many lawyers, to borrow...
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