I just read an interesting article in Bloomberg Law by Heidi K. Gardner, Distinguished Scholar, Harvard Law School Center on the Legal Profession, which touches on the persistent gap in origination credits between men and woman law firm partners. As the article states, collected data (timesheets, billing records, origination files, personnel records) across multiple law firms shows that men and woman partners start their partner years with an equally small book of business. What accounts for the rapid divergence between men and women’s book of business over time? Women tend to grow their book incrementally and often through the more difficult process of developing clients who are brand new to the firm, whereas men tend to “inherit” institutional clients. To read the full article, click here.

As reported by The American Lawyer, the growing trend in law firms seems to be the ability to offer flexible work schedules to their attorneys. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius recently became the latest large law firm to offer flexible work options when it announced a new policy allowing U.S. and U.K. associates with two or more years at the firm to spend one to two days a week working remotely. Since the plan was officially unveiled on March 7, about 100 Morgan Lewis associates have signed up for the initiative. The program, which launches on May 1, includes an in-home office setup with dual monitors, a headset and docking station. Read the full article here.

In a subsequent article by The American Lawyer, Jackson Lewis and Baker McKenzie announced this week they will join the latest Big Law announcements by offering similar flexible work schedules for attorneys. Baker McKenzie’s program, known as bAgile, offers different types of work arrangements, including remote working and alternative hours for all of it’s employees, not just lawyers, across its North American offices. Read the full article here.

Below is a link to an interesting article I found on managing and motivating multiple generations in the legal workplace. One of the sessions I had at Harvard Law School, Leadership in Law Firms program (2013), was a discussion of case studies related to managing and motivating top talent. While that was extremely educational, it completely skipped the complexities that a multigenerational workforce brings. With more people working past the age of retirement, and young people completing law school at earlier ages, we now have a workforce that spans five decades. How do you effectively communicate across the generations? How do you motivate your attorneys and staff in a way that speaks to everyone? How do you develop a compensation structure that works for everyone? It’s an interesting time and I hope you find some useful information in this article.

The Multigenerational Workforce

While $180,000 for a first year associate may seem crazy for our market in Sacramento, it’s a bold move for Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman who just joined Cravath in raising first year associate salaries. Starting July 1, first year associates joining the New York office of each firm will make legal compensation history. So where will it go from here? And how does this impact our market in Sacramento? Weintraub Tobin Law Corporation announced in April that it will start first year associates at $125,000. So far, most area firms are not stepping up to the plate to match them. In a time when finding top notch talent proves to be a challenge, I think more firms should to stay competitive.

If you are an attorney on the move, or a firm that needs help finding that much needed top notch talent, call Leslie today to see how she can help you.

To read the full articles about Kasowitz and Cravath, please click the links below:

www.AbovetheLaw/Cravath

www.AbovetheLaw/Kasowitz

For those of you that have high hopes for 2016, you might like read in this article that the health of the housing, labor and automotive markets all point to a stronger 2016.

Forecasters at Michigan’s Research Center in Quantitative Economics said on Thursday that they expect real gross domestic product to grow 2.6 percent next year and 2.9 percent in 2017. That wouldn’t be white-hot growth by any means, but it would be the strongest since 2006, when the economy grew 2.7 percent. And it would come with some very happy numbers for workers, the forecasters predict, including an unemployment rate that falls below 5 percent next year and to 4.6 percent in 2017.

Read Full Article

I just read a great, and brief, article put by the folks at BTI Consulting Group entitled “Where to find your best opportunities for business in 2016.” This article breaks it down by industry and practice group and gives projected areas for top growth, moderate growth and low growth. It also provides great tips on how to deploy your business development efforts.

www.topgrowthareasfor2016.com

If your firm has a Strategic Plan that is collecting dust, then this is the article for you. One of my favorites by David Maister, this article gives every executive committee or board of directors the road map they need to have actionable discussions about the purpose and direction of their firm.

www.managingpartnerforum.org