Walker Clark WorldView
Is your compensation system being stress-tested in 2023?
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- Written by Norman Clark
- Published: 11 January 2023
As the legal services world has emerged from the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic, we continue to observe an unusually high degree of "churn" in associate and partner movements in legal markets worldwide. In most instances, compensation has been a significant factor in these departures, although not the only one. Remote working during the pandemic opened new opportunities for discrete lateral recruiting, with the "losing" law firm not finding out about someone's decision to leave until it is too late. Larger law firms with more resources, especially in the United States and United Kingdom have been drawn into what appears to be an ever-escalating bidding war even for newly-qualified lawyers.
bilateral trade and cooperation agreements: overlooked challenges to law firms
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- Written by Norman Clark
- Published: 05 January 2023
Saudi Arabia is in talks with Sweden to develop a joint economic action plan for 2023 to bolster trade and investment relations between the two countries.
Will the "law firm of the future" need fewer lawyers?
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- Written by Norman Clark
- Published: 20 December 2022
A report from the American Bar Association suggests that the demand for lawyers, at least in the United States, might have begun to subside. 38,020 students started their first year of law school during the fall 2022 term, compared to 42,718 in 2021, according to the report. Meanwhile, there has been a significant increase in enrollments in non-J.D. programs.
What if our brilliant strategy fails?
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- Written by Norman Clark
- Published: 14 November 2022
Planning Now for the Next Crisis
Even the best business strategies can be knocked off-course, or sometimes even wrecked, by a crisis that the law firm only vaguely anticipated, if at all.
Is your IP practice missing opportunities to improve its profitability?
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- Written by Norman Clark
- Published: 29 August 2022
Here are two resources to help intellectual property practices capitalize on opportunities for improved profitability through the outsourcing of tasks and functions currently performed in-house.
"imaginary time travel" -- an overlooked strategic problem-solving tool
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- Written by Norman Clark
- Published: 16 August 2022
A highly effective way to find breakthrough solutions to seemingly insoluable problems today is to "travel" into the future and look back at them.
Why am I doing this?
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- Written by Norman Clark
- Published: 10 August 2022
a new way to look at and improve the way you work
A lawyer's time is the most valuable asset in any law practice of any size anywhere in the world. Yet, lawyers report an almost continuous sense of frustration that they are not as productive or efficient as they believe that they could be.
The reports of the death of the small law firm...
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- Written by Norman Clark
- Published: 08 August 2022
"The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated."
--- Samuel L. Clemens
(a.k.a. "Mark Twain")
(American humorist and author, 1835-1910)
Yes, diversity really is a priority
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- Written by Norman Clark
- Published: 17 May 2022
The old excuse, still heard in many law firms around the word, that "diversity is not a priority for our clients or our firm" is not only misinformed, but in some cases could be a formula for long-range failure.
Law Firms Without Borders: Challenging Trends in Cross-Border Legal Services
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- Written by Norman Clark
- Published: 03 May 2022
Although law firms today face a seemingly vast array of strategic, operational, and management challenges arising from the globalization of the legal services industry, there are at least five emerging trends that characterize law firms that are successfully building profitable cross-border and multinational practices, even when based in only one office or country.
Commentary: Standing Up to Aggression in a Nuclear-Armed World
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- Written by Norman Clark
- Published: 11 April 2022
This commentary by international law expert (and former Walker Clark senior consultant) Gerald J. Kirkpatrick shows a way forward for the United Nations, if the United States and other western powers want to lead the way.
The Law Firm of the Future: a culture of resilience
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- Written by Norman Clark
- Published: 05 April 2022
Above all, to be the successful law firms of the future will practice a culture of resilience.
The Law Firm of the Future: a predisposition for innovation
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- Written by Norman Clark
- Published: 30 March 2022
Successful law firms in the future will not only keep up with trends and developments; they will lead them.
The Law Firm of the Future: an intense focus on quality
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- Written by Norman Clark
- Published: 28 March 2022
Quality must be more than a slogan on a law firm's website.
Quality management is perhaps the last great frontier for leaders and managers in traditional law firms.
The Law Firm of the Future: "anytime, anywhere" service
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- Written by Norman Clark
- Published: 13 March 2022
One defining characteristic of the successful law firm of the future -- indeed, of any legal service provider -- is already visible in many of the most successful law firms today.
The successful law firm of the future will be able to deliver a high degree of responsiveness and service quality anytime and anywhere the client needs legal services.
The Law Firm of the Future: 40-to-1 leverage? 400-to-1?
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- Written by Norman Clark
- Published: 04 March 2022
The successful law firm of the future will be almost unrecognizable to most law firm members today.
Unprecedented workflow leverage will create opportunities for exponential increases in productivity and unprecedented challenges to manage it.
The Law Firm of the Future: sustainable profitability
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- Written by Norman Clark
- Published: 26 February 2022
Your law firm is making money today.
But what about next year?
What about ten years from now?
Do you even know how you are profitable today?
The Law Firm of the Future: intimate client relationships
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- Written by Norman Clark
- Published: 21 February 2022
"My lawyer is my best friend."
How often has a client said that about you?
"Client intimacy," not just good client service, will be an important feature of the successful law firm of the future.
The Law Firm of the Future: from "factory" to "shipyard"
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- Written by Norman Clark
- Published: 15 February 2022
The law firm of the future will probably be more like a shipyard than a factory.
The conversion is already underway in many law firms.
The Law Firm of the Future: seven critical forces that will determine success
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- Written by Norman Clark
- Published: 10 February 2022
One of the most frequent questions that I am asked these days is What will law firms look like ten years from now? Twenty years?
Contrary to popular belief, we really can foretell the future, especially of the legal services industry.
And a very clear picture is emerging.
