Duval & Stachenfeld

Should the billable hour really be vilified as something that rewards inefficiency and incompetence, or is it a benchmark with which to judge performance, or is it both?

If "satisfying" clients is not enough, what must law firms do in order to survive and thrive?

Why are large law firms so stingy when it comes to making new partners?

Managing partner Bruce Stachenfeld offers 7 tips for how to run a law firm.

Why are lawyers so afraid of volatility, and what are the advantages of overcoming that fear?

What are the many advantages of not fixating on Profits Per Partner as a law firm metric?

Has the focus on "Profits Per Partner" gone too far? This managing partner thinks so.

Do Biglaw firms get a bad rap? Managing partner Bruce Stachenfeld thinks so.

According to managing partner Bruce Stachenfeld, if you're unhappy with your work/life balance, maybe you just need to change your perspective.

What are the many benefits of having low overhead? Managing partner Bruce Stachenfeld identifies several.

What lessons does the work of management guru Peter Drucker offer for the business of law?

According to managing partner Bruce Stachenfeld, you don’t need all customers (clients or lawyers), just a few who really want you badly.

Eight insights on talent management from Bruce Stachenfeld, founder and managing partner of Duval & Stachenfeld.

Why is talent management so important to a law firm? Bruce Stachenfeld, founder and managing partner of Duval & Stachenfeld, explains.

Please welcome our newest columnist: Bruce Stachenfeld, founder and managing partner of Duval & Stachenfeld LLP.

* The $160K-Plus Club welcomes its newest member: Duval & Stachenfeld, a real estate firm in NY, is more than doubling its starting salary for associates to $175K. Look for them recruiting at your “tier one” school soon. [New York Law Journal]

* In this economy, bankruptcy firms are being hit hard: Stutman Treister & Glatt, a top L.A. firm that once assisted businesses like Lehman Brothers and Enron Corp. in their Chapter 11 proceedings, is closing up shop. [WSJ Law Blog (sub. req.)]

* It ain’t easy being dean at the law school with the best Biglaw prospects — oh wait, yes it is. Congrats to Gillian Lester, who will serve as Columbia Law’s fifteenth dean come January 2015. [Columbia News]

* “Do I think he thought he was gonna beat it? Yeah.” The district attorney who brought charges against Stephen McDaniel thinks the law school killer was too big for his chainmail britches. [Macon Telegraph]

* From catcalling to “jiggle tests,” NFL cheerleaders have to put up with a lot of really ridiculous stuff. Not being paid the minimum wage is one thing, but having to put up with being groped is quite another. [TIME]

Good news: a major law firm is hiring! The salary might not be "market," but a job's a job, right?

In case you missed the big news, last week Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft laid off 96 lawyers. This is, as far as we know, the largest lawyer layoff of the current economic cycle. When combined with the January layoffs, which hit around 35 lawyers, CWT has axed upwards of 130 attorneys. This makes it “America’s […]

Never heard of Duval & Stachenfeld? Well, that’s about to change, thanks to the firm’s innovative approach to associate compensation, which is getting some media mentions. From an article by Kellie Schmitt in The Recorder: The 50-lawyer firm, based in New York but with a small L.A. office, starts first-year associates at $60,000 — or […]