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Legal Research in Canada

Bill Gratsch — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:30:43 GMT

Hat tip to Legal Writing Prof Blog for pointing out a slick "how-to" guide for performing legal research in Canada recently posted to LLRX.

Doing Legal Research in Canada, written by Ted Tjaden, is an online guide to doing legal research in Canada. The guide provides information and links to print and online resources and is aimed primarily at researchers outside of Canada needing an overview of Canadian legal research. There are six major sections:

Link: Doing Legal Research in Canada

Client Profitability

Bill Gratsch — Tue, 06 May 2008 11:05:57 GMT

Ron Paquette, an analyst at Redwood Analytics, recently penned an interesting two-parter which has been posted to More Partner Income: Client Profitability: What Is The Cost Of Partner Time? and Partner Cost and Client Profitability (Part II)

Multilocal Management

Bill Gratsch — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 10:10:54 GMT

Bruce MacEwen, writing at Adam Smith, Esq., posted this week on the topic of global management of law firms, a timely subject in this era of globalization. In his post, Global Management: Central or Local?, Mr. MacEwen noted:

Multilocal?

That's the new McKinsey coinage intended to lend new intellectual luster and heft to the perennial management-theoretical challenge of how to manage multinational firms. No matter how familiar the business issues, now is probably an especially timely moment to revisit them, given the strenuous economic environment. In good times, suboptimal management can be overlooked; but at times like this there is no room for slack in the rigging.

Other bullet points from his post include:

The fundamental challenge is to capture the greatest value from local practices while also benefiting from the value of an international platform and brand...

...If, for example, you're a capital markets-centric New York and London powerhouse, a centralized and more or less top-down approach may be ideal. To the extent you have other offices, they may be more branches of convenience than full service local outposts in their own right. Conversely, if your firm has a more widely diversified portfolio of local practices (say, energy in Moscow, IP in Milan, project finance in Dubai, startup financing in Eastern Europe, etc.) then headquarters needs to "get out of the way" of these country-specific profit centers...

...Consider some partial measures--short of centralized mandates--to facilitate more "natural" and instinctive collaboration...

...And especially in our industry, where local jurisdictional, substantive law, regulatory and licensing issues are so much more critical to what we do than (say) different packaging preferences might be to a consumer goods firm, it's important to try to strike the right balance between capitalizing on local law capability while maintaining the "one-firm firm" strength of a global platform able to seamlessly serve our equally global clients...

To read these points in context, and all of Mr. MacEwen's post, click this link: Global Management: Central or Local?

Technorati Tags: multilocal,global management,global law firm management,bruce macewen

Non-Equity Partner Tiers at Law Firms

Bill Gratsch — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 10:26:01 GMT

Jim Cotterman at Altman Weil recently wrote about Non-Equity Partner Tiers at his weblog, Cotterman on Compensation. Mr. Cotterman's post included a reference to an academic paper on the subject. The paper, written by Indiana Law Professor William D. Henderson, summarized that the

...The conventional explanation for the growth of the two-tier system (or, conversely, the abandonment of the single-tier) is that it produces higher profits per equity partner (PPP), thus solidifying the prestige of the firm and improving its ability to attract the best legal talent. Drawing upon a comprehensive dataset of Am Law 200 firms, this study documents that average PPP is significantly higher in single-tier firms, even after controlling for geographic market segment and firm leverage. The higher profitability of single-tier firms appears to be a function of higher levels of reputational capital, which enable single-tier firms to (a) attract and retain a more lucrative client base, and (b) run a more rigorous promotion-to-partnership tournament.

Based upon a ten-year longitudinal sample, this study also found negligible statistical evidence that the two-tier structure, after controlling for relative starting position and geographic market, is associated with larger gains in PPP. In light of its uncertain financial benefits, the author theorizes that the two-tier structure is primarily a bonding mechanism used by less prestigious firms to institutionalize a marginal product method of partnership compensation and consolidate managerial control for the benefit of the firm's most powerful partners. Failure to switch to the two-tier structure leaves the firm vulnerable to defections and possible collapse. As a result, the primary economic benefit of the two-tier format may be firm stability rather than higher average PPP...

Read the above snippet in context here: An Empirical Study of Single-Tier versus Two-Tier Partnerships in the Am Law 200

Mr. Cotterman, for his part, opined:

So should anyone consider a second tier? Perhaps. There are still some benefits to a second tier including establishing a career option for critically important senior advisors and the very best technical specialists who do not want the responsibility of full ownership — the “pride of partnership”; or, as a proving ground for those who have yet to demonstrate sustained business generation in acceptable quantity and quality but who you consider are more likely than not to do so. Undertaking tiers still requires carefully stated objectives (including how this structure relates to the firm’s strategic intent; clearly articulated rigorous admission standards for both tiers; that the firm design the tier to be a desirable career path; and, that the equity partners reach consensus that this is a good thing to do.

Interesting reading.

Links to more information:

An Empirical Study of Single-Tier versus Two-Tier Partnerships in the Am Law 200, Professor William D. Henderson

More on Non-Equity Partner Tiers - Cotterman on Compensation

Technorati Tags: non-equity partner,tiered partnership,law firm compensation,partnership,partnership structure

Slate Goes Live with Convictions

Bill Gratsch — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 08:54:46 GMT

Hat tip to Blawg's Book Highlighter writer Randy Richardson, for pointing out Slate's new weblog focused on the legal world, Convictions.

Convictions is clearly a collaborative effort along the lines of Between Lawyers, The Volokh Conspiracy and Concurring Opinions. I was struck by the sheer number of posts already online (I guess content is king). The weblog appears to have gone live on March 10th and yet already has pages of new posts. Topics also appear by fairly diverse, which is one benefit of such collaborative efforts.

Here is a sampling of recent headlines at Convictions:

The Wire and Jury Nullification: Why Lie?

A Terrible Day for John McCain

Why Gun Rights?

Heller's opportunity to put Law over Politics

Justice Scalia, Pragmatist

Technorati Tags: slate,blawg,legal weblog,law blog,weblog,slate magazine

Monday Morning Headlines...

Bill Gratsch — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 10:50:17 GMT

Some headlines from my feed reader catching my eye this morning:

Political Activity Under the NLRA - Workplace Prof Blog

Cyprus Trademark Law and Registration Process - IBLS Speaker's Corner

James Otis argued Paxton's Case 137 years ago today - FourthAmendment Blog

General counsel need to know the legal positions and actions of companies with shared directors - Law Department Management

Legal Outsourcing Trends and Forecast - Strategic Legal Technology

Article: Outsourcing - Offshoring Legal Work

Bill Gratsch — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 11:42:07 GMT

Interesting article today on the Law.com network entitled GCs Embrace Outsourced Work. The article discusses some of the latest developments in outsourcing and offshoring legal work to low cost providers worldwide.

A few bullet points from the article:

For Scott Rickman [attorney at Del Monte], the question is: Why pay big-firm associates $200 an hour to do document review when you can ship it out to India for $25 an hour?
While many are still undecided or tentative, market researchers are bullish. Boston-based Forrester Research estimates the current value of legal work shipped overseas at $80 million, but predicts that $4 billion worth may head to India by 2015, according to an article last year in Legal Week, a Recorder affiliate.
With futuristic names like Pangea3, Office Tiger and Lexadigm, companies that get legal work done in India are continuing to pop up, and investors are betting they'll succeed. Pangea3, which employs 240 lawyers in three Mumbai offices, got a $4.4 million investment by GlenRock Capital Advisers, the fund headed by former top private equity lawyer Lawrence Graev, who now serves as Pangea3's nonexecutive chairman. Last year, the company scored a $7 million investment by venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, which also helped shepherd Yahoo, PayPal and YouTube.
Julie Mar-Spinola, a former VP at Atmel Corp. who headed up litigation and intellectual property, said she never liked the idea of sending document review or patent work to lawyers halfway around the world who don't know the company. "I think to ensure quality and consistency in the patent itself, you really need someone who understands the business and technology," said Mar-Spinola, who now heads her own e-discovery consulting shop, e-Compass. Mar-Spinola also said issues of confidentiality and conflicts -- such as the potential for an outsourcing firm to be doing work on both sides of a litigation -- are issues in-house counsel should seriously weigh.

You can read the bullet points in context as well as the whole article via this link: GCs Embrace Outsourced Work

Weblogs and Networking: M & A Law Prof Moves to NYTimes

Bill Gratsch — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 11:14:53 GMT

In yet another example of the networking power of weblogs, Wayne State Law School Professor Steven Davidoff, who posts at M & A Law Prof Blog, noted this week (M&A Law Prof to the New York Times DealBook) that he is taking his blogging efforts to a larger stage, the New York Times DealBook:

I'm very pleased to announce that I will now be blogging full time with the New York Times DealBook as the Deal Professor. Don't worry, it will be the same blog covering the same topics with the same length of posts and legal analysis, just with the expanded resources of those great N.Y. Times deal reporters, including Andrew Ross Sorkin and Michael de la Merced.

I suppose it is possible that Professor Davidoff could have landed the same deal without the connections he made and audience he developed via his M & A Law Prof Blog; but I wonder how possible and in what timeframe?

Professor Davidoff himself notes:

Heartfelt thanks must go to Paul Caron, Joe Hodnicki and Peter Henning for making this all possible. I will continue to recommend and refer to this terrific law professor network Paul and Joe have put together. They are to be commended for bringing together such a high quality group of law professors covering such a diverse array of topics.

Great stuff and congratulations to Professor Davidoff, who deserves the soon-to-be increased recognition.

Weblogs and the power of networking; They go hand in hand.

For more information on the Law Professor Blogs network, here is the link: Law Professor Blogs

Althouse's Favorite 2007 Quotes

Bill Gratsch — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 11:11:42 GMT

Law Professor Ann Althouse ended 2007 with a post covering her collection of favorite quotes from the year. Some real nuggets in there...

Here's where I pick out all my favorite quotes from the things I've collected on this blog over the past year.

Headlines: Recruiting, Internet Marketing and Dictation Systems

Bill Gratsch — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 11:35:53 GMT

Welcome to the new year. A few headlines that caught my eye this morning...

Attorney Kathleen Wu's piece in Texas Lawyer, Gain a Recruiting Advantage by Bringing Back Departed Lawyers, offers some interesting thoughts about the legal recruiting process by looking at it from a different angle:

There's been an awful lot written about what the legal profession can do to try to stop the flow of women leaving the profession after they have children and find 60-hour workweeks unsustainable. But I've seen very little written about how, once they've left the profession, firms can bring them back.

Kevin O'Keefe notes in a post that Law firm Internet marketing to grow in 2008 : Warning to large law marketing & PR heads.

In 2008, it'll be up to you employed in large firms and PR agencies advising large law to assess whether you really know what you are doing when marketing via social networking. If not, it's time to get some help rather than dismissing marketing mediums you don't understand. Dismissing innovation only hurts the law firm and is ultimately going to cost you your job.

And, in the article 'Auld Lang Syne' for Dictation, Michael Barnas at Law Technology News writes about changes afoot for dictation systems:

As manufacturers move away from analog dictation systems to digital versions, many firms will have no choice but to upgrade systems. If you are an IT chief evaluating a new digital system, here are some suggestions to help ease the process of installing a new system.

The article continues by offering useful tips, questions to ask and thoughts on planning for a conversion/upgrade. For those facing the above situation, the article is a worthwhile read.