Managing the Modern Law Firm

Laura Empson is Professor in the Management of Professional Services Firms at Cass Business School, City of London, and was previously Director of the Clifford Chance Centre at Said Business School, University of Oxford. Her research has focused on a wide range of issues in accounting, consulting and law firms, including the organizational implications of strategic change, managing the post-merger integration process, overcoming impediments to knowledge-sharing among professionals, changing organizational and professional identities, and the governance of professional service firms. Prior to becoming an academic, Laura Empson worked for several years as an investment banker and strategy consultant and continues to act as a consultant to professional service firms. She has a PhD and MBA from London Business School.

This book, edited by Laura Empson, provides a rich blend of historical perspective, scholarly analysis, and practical insight by an impressive group of professionals and academicians. It gives firm leaders plenty to think about.

• Prologue ; 1. Introduction and Overview ; 2. Your Partnership: Surviving and Thriving in a Changing World: The Special Nature of Partnership ; 3. Your People: Valuing Diversity: Some Cautionary Tales from the American Experience ; 4. Your Expertise: Developing New Practices: Recipes for Success ; 5. Your Client Relationships and Reputation: Weighing the Worth of Social Ties: Embeddedness and the Price of Legal Services in the Large Law Firm Market ; 6. Your Income: Determining the Value of Legal Knowledge: Billing and Compensation Practices in Law Firms ; 7. Your Capital: Building Sustainable Value: A Capital Idea ; 8. Your Competitors: Mapping the Competitive Space of Large US Law Firms: A Strategic Group Perspective ; 9. Your Ethics: Redefining Professionalism? The Impact of Management Change ; 10. Your Challenge: Sustaining Partnership in the 21st Century: The Global Law Firm Experience