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International Edition

Management & IT: Make the most of the internet

'Differentiate or Die', marketing guru Jack Trout warned in the title of his seminal work on how to survive in 'our era of killer competition'. Trout is more associated with putting consumer brands on the map than he is with making law firms stand out from the crowd, but many of the rules he establishes translate to the profession. A law firm has to offer something unique if it is to attract and maintain business in a competitive marketplace, and then ensure it communicates that unique selling point - its differentiator - as effectively as possible. This article is not so much concerned with a law firm's differentiator per se, but more about how firms can use their websites to differentiate effectively.
7 minute read

International Edition

Management & IT: The partnership of the future

Oscar Wilde described a cynic as a 'man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing'. Unfortunately for Oscar, the IT industry, and its customers, that cynicism is fairly widespread, most notably when it comes to developing relationships between vendor and buyer.
7 minute read

International Edition

Management: Business Development: The rainmaker's recipe

It is never too early to start rainmaking; and putting your contacts in order is a good place to start, says Sue Bramall
7 minute read

International Edition

Business Development: Branding matters

On 1 March Nabarro Nathanson rebranded and shortened its name to Nabarro. The time had come for the firm to express its identity more clearly.
6 minute read

International Edition

Law in Business: The road ahead

The career priorities for an assistant are pretty clear. They must hone professional skills. Values focus on completing tasks on time, accuracy and being punctual.
8 minute read

International Edition

The succession pipeline

A partner from a 'big four' accounting firm hired one of us (Andrew Bass) to work with some of his senior managers on a one-to-one basis. He explained: "I have some really bright guys who have succeeded throughout their lives by being excellent at technical things. And that has got them as far as one level below partner. But then one day they started coming in and they were not standing so tall; in fact, they were dead worried. Because they had just realised they have not been commercial enough and that they therefore are a long way from making the case for partnership. They are used to succeeding but now they are stuck and cannot make any further progress by doing what they have done to succeed before."
6 minute read

International Edition

US Top 50/New York: The bottom dollar

On average, the dollar has demonstrated significant weakness against the pound over the past three years. Comparing the spot rate in December 2005 to December 2006, the exchange rate declined by 14%. Not surprisingly, and particularly for US law firms with operations in the UK, these changes have presented significant operational challenges and some perception management challenges, especially when reporting results to legal publications in the UK and Europe.
4 minute read

International Edition

US Top 50/New York: Full steam ahead

The development of a top-tier New York-based, US M&A practice is central to the strategy of Clifford Chance (CC). Deals involving a US company accounted for more than 40% of global M&A activity in 2006 and the total value of US M&A transactions grew faster than the rest of the world. Looking ahead to the remainder of 2007, it seems likely that activity will, if anything, escalate as there has already been a significant number of US mega-deals and the increasing cross-border nature of US M&A will continue.
7 minute read

International Edition

Management: Riding the M&A wave

The resurgence of big-ticket M&A will please many partners because the work runs throughout their entire practices, stimulating demand for several different services. Yet structural change can also have a traumatic effect on cash flow. There can be few events more disruptive than a key client becoming the subject of a merger or acquisition. Longstanding relationships can be lost as senior contacts move or lose out in organisational change; some practices lose lucrative contracts as work is consolidated under suppliers favoured by acquirers; others lose places on client panels.
6 minute read

International Edition

Management & IT: Get your house in order

When it comes to electronic discovery - the process of producing digital information as part of a legal matter - ignorance is no longer bliss. The massive volume of enterprise data located in file systems, applications, pre-primary storage and archives can be discoverable at any time.
8 minute read

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