| Consulting services you provide: |
| Since 1983 I've been privileged to work with the top management of premier law firms in over a dozen different countries, endeavoring to discuss, challenge and escalate their thinking on how to manage and compete effectively. I bring my expertise to issues associated with strategic differentiation, improving profitability, client service excellence, and effective law firm management. |
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| How did you come to hold your present position (specifically, what led you to become a legal recruiter, marketing consultant, etc.)? |
| My involvement in consulting to the legal profession happened quite by accident. Sitting on the board of a large public company, I was given the opportunity of leading the board members through a two-day intensive strategic planning exercise. One of the observers, being the managing partner of a law firm, came to me at the conclusion and suggested that if I could do that with these crusty old board members, then he and I needed to talk about what we might do with his partners. That was the start of my current career path. |
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| What is the best thing about working with lawyers? |
| Working with lawyers allows me to play intellectual ping-pong with the most fascinating professionals, who have the keenest intellect, and this incredible ability to challenge every new idea until it bleeds. |
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| What is the worst thing about working with lawyers? |
| Every new idea bleeds! |
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| What has been the most satisfying moment of your career thus far? |
| One of the highlights of my career has to be co-authoring (with my good friend David Maister), the book First Among Equals: How to Manage a Group of Professionals, (The Free Press, 2002) which managed to top the business bestseller lists in the United States, Canada and Australia; has been translated into nine languages; is currently in its sixth printing; and received an award for being one of the best business books of 2002. It has since allowed me to say to clients (tongue firmly implanted in cheek): “I believe your choice is fairly clear . . . you can retain the counsel of one of the two experts who wrote the book, or one of the many others who read it!” |
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| What are your favorite activities outside the law? |
| I am a voracious reader and often consume a book a week. My personal library of business books extends via a spiral staircase to two floors in my home and rivals the titles available in many good book stores. I am also an avid devotee of contemporary jazz and spend a couple of days each year at some outdoor music festival. Finally, living where I do affords me the opportunity of engaging in some of the best downhill skiing in the world. |
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