Change Management 2: Strong Leadership and Collaboration are Required to Drive Change

10.24.18 | Susan Duncan

Making meaningful and sustainable change will require collaboration and strong leadership. As discussed in Change Management Part 1, effectuating change in law firms is more difficult than other professions and industries and managing partners cite the reluctance or refusal of the vast majority of their partners to change.  Given the dynamic shifts occurring in the…

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Change Management Part 1: The Framework

10.10.18 | Susan Duncan

The instability, disruption and resulting anxiety in the legal profession at times feels like a roller coaster: ups and downs, twists and turns, peaks and valleys, fast and slow, feelings of risk, exposure and vulnerability and a lack of control over our destiny. We are more or less along for the ride, which admittedly is…

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The Millennial Generation in Law Firms – How to Attract and Retain Gen Ys

06.07.17 | Susan Duncan

The law firm model likely will change in the coming years as described in our article The Shape of Things to Come – Tradition Gives Way to a New Model!  These changes may result in the hiring of fewer traditional lawyers out of law school and the advancement of fewer associates to partnership, the hiring…

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Law Firm Partnership Part 1: Do “True Partnerships” Still Exist?

11.30.16 | Susan Duncan

Citi Private Bank has released its third quarter report on law firm growth and it indicates a slow-down since their mid-year report.  The following findings are important to note: Demand was nearly flat at .3% Revenue growth other than due to billing rate increases was only .3% Firms have seen an increase in compensation expenses…

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Do Your Law Firm Leaders Lead or Manage?

10.26.16 | Susan Duncan

Leadership is not a title or a position. The best leaders have developed competencies that enable them to drive their firms forward, think conceptually and strategically and effectively build and rely on teams and networks. According to the 2016 Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends report, eighty-nine percent of companies see leadership as an important or…

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Succession Part 2: Transitioning to Tomorrow’s Leaders

08.06.13 | Susan Duncan

As noted in our previous post Succession Part 1: Holding onto Clients When Senior Rainmakers Retire, over the next ten years over 65% of baby-boomer, equity partners are expected to retire. (Since we focused on Transitioning Clients in that post, we will not address it again in this one.) Many of these partners likely also are…

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Collaboration: The Next Frontier. Are Law Firms Up to it?

02.21.13 | Susan Duncan

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines col•lab•o•ra•tion [kuh-lab-uh-rey-shuh n] as: (1) the state of having shared interests or efforts (as in social or business matters;) (2) the work and activity of a number of persons who individually contribute toward the efficiency of the whole.  In today’s business environment, technology tools and platforms facilitate effective collaboration. So there…

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Culture Part 1: Does Law Firm Culture Play a Role in Success or Failure?

08.23.12 | Susan Duncan

You bet it does — perhaps now more than ever. Of course this depends on how you define “success.” With so much focus on the numbers – PPPs, RPL, revenues, de-equitizing, equity versus income partners, cutting expenses, discounts and billing rates, utilization, hours – it would be easy to assume that every corporate law firm…

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