Remaking News of the Week: It’s a two-way street

Today’s Remaking News of the Week: It’s a two-way street reports an American Lawyer story by Dan Packel published on November 8, 2018 headlined It’s a Two-Way Street From Big Law to the Big Four.

Remaking News of the Week: What lawyers learn from Deep Blue

We all know IBM’s Deep Blue computer narrowly defeated Garry Kasparov in 1997, having lost the first match a year earlier.

Then in 2015 Google’s DeepMind triumphed in the AlphaGo versus Lee Sedol match. 

Now comes the story of AI defeating not one, but 20, corporate lawyers: 20 top lawyers were beaten by legal AI.

Remaking News of the Week: Playing to win in BigLaw

Playing to win in BigLaw is prompted by Bruce MacEwen recounting a conversation with a friend in the BigLaw industry:  “He had correctly deduced from a recent column in these pages that I’m (re-)reading the all-time strategy classic Playing to Win by A.G. Lafley and Roger Martin (HBR 2013). My friend called with ‘an epiphany’: “I realized my firm isn’t playing to win; it’s playing not to lose.  I think most law firms are doing the same“.

Remaking News of the Week: Why PEPP averages mislead

In Australia, it’s the Royal Commission into Banking that’s generating super-profits for a few large firms. This is analysed in the Thomson Reuters State of the Legal Market 2018 Report curated by Joel Barolsky, a contributor to Dialogue. When demand shrivels, these good times won’t last.

Today, Nick Bruch’s Law.Com piece (1) features as Remaking News of the Week. In Law Firms Are More Profitable Than Ever. How are They Doing It? Nick brings us an analysis of how US BigLaw firms are increasing their profitability. He shows why economic  logic says this can’t continue without major remaking of the business model – which a few firms are doing with promising results.

Remaking News of the Week: Law firm partnerships are losing their lustre

The inimitable John Gapper penned Law firm partnerships are losing their lustre with the sub-line The transfer market in talent is undermining traditional legal practices in the Financial Times back in May this year.

Citing high profiles lateral moves and raids in London, John points to the crisis that building a BigLaw firm by lateralling is causing. This snippet says it all: “The transfer market for lawyers has become so heated that Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer introduced reforms this month to retain top partners by paying them up to six times what it gives to lesser lights“. 

Remaking News of the Week: Studying leadership before the big test

On 8 July 2018, Bill Henderson published Studying leadership before the big test, Part 1 on Legal Evolution, his inspiring blog. Bill begins by recounting Fred Bartlit, one of the founding partners of Bartlit Beck, saying “smooth seas make poor sailors”. The reference is to the need for ‘perspective, emotional control, making choices with consequences, and filtering out noise in assessing and managing through turbulence and uncertainty’.