When Dentons recently announced its bold plan to build “the first national law firm” in the U.S., Greenberg Traurig’s leaders scoffed, pointing out that their firm had already done that. If by “national law firm” Dentons meant achieving geographic scale—which is what it suggested when it noted that none of the nation’s top 10 full-service law firms has offices in all 20 of the largest U.S. markets—then it had a point. Mary K Young discusses the options for the structure of a growing firm—traditional growth versus a verein—and the central question of which model provides for smoother collaboration between disparate geographies.

Legal recruiters say there's still huge demand for blockchain expertise, as well as lawyers who understand data privacy. Blockchain and cryptocurrency are fast-growing specializations within the financial industry, and law firms are busily snatching up lawyers with expertise in the emerging fields.  Mary K Young notes that privacy law has also grown tremendously, and that most global and national firms have added significant capabilities in privacy and data security in the last five years.

Mary K Young offers some insights into how law firms could handle changes at the firm -  specifically, attorney departures - and how to communicate these changes internally as well as to firm clients, and how law firm culture can impact the hiring and recruitment process.

Many law firms are competing to attract and retain client relationships that are increasingly larger pieces of a shrinking overall pie of client spending on outside law firms. In addition, traditional client relationships face four growing competitive forces that are taking market share away from Am Law 200 law firms and creating impediments to transitioning client relationships.  Kent Zimmermann outlines five drivers of successful client succession planning based on best practices of high-performing firms to combat these concerns.

As firm leaders of the Boomer generation age, leadership succession planning is key. Polsinelli’s process has taken years and involved consultants, interviews, and questionnaires.  Kent Zimmermann discusses issues that prevent firms from addressing it and some factors to consider when planning for succession.

On January 24, 2019, Mary K Young, partner, will participate in a panel examining best practices in change management and customer engagement in large and small firms. The panel will debate best practices around redeploying or recruiting new talent and engaging customers throughout the transition.

This panel is part of the 26th Annual Marketing Partner Forum - Approaching Inflection: Recalibrating Strategy in the New Client Era at Dana Point, California on January 23-25, 2019.  For additional information on the forum registration may be found on the Marketing Partner Forum website .

The legal field is notorious for challenging employee conditions, but O’Melveny & Myers defies the odds with an investment in its people.  Peter Zeughauser comments on how companies across industries can implement similar programs if they’re willing to make the commitment and investment.

In a year punctuated by prominent partner departures, John Quinn says his firm's bare-bones management structure remains a virtue—and succession planning is for suckers.  A lot has changed since a quartet of litigators came together to form Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan 32 years ago. From a handful of lawyers in Los Angeles, the firm now boasts 22 offices on four continents, with 800 attorneys generating more than $1 billion in annual revenue.  Peter Zeughauser comments on the benefits to law firms of a broad management structure and firm succession planning.

Zeughauser Group's 2018 Pocket Guide to the American Lawyer Rankings of the Am Law 200 by Profits Per Equity Partner and by Value Per Lawyer; The A-List; The Global 100; and The Corporate Scorecard.

You can download the ZGuide here

If you would like a hard copy of the 2018 ZGuide, please send an email to zgadmin@consultzg.com with "2018 ZGuide Request" in the subject line and provide your mailing address.