Inside Straight
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Biglaw, Billable Hours, In-House Counsel, Litigators, Money, Partner Issues
Inside Straight: Creating The Wrong Incentives
When we create rules, we want people to follow them. When we build incentives into rules, we want people to be motivated by those incentives. But the rule-makers cannot foresee all of the consequences of the rules they create. In the end, we're counting on people to act in good faith and use common sense. Will that work? -
Biglaw, In-House Counsel, Lateral Moves, Musical Chairs, Partner Issues
Inside Straight: Don't Tell Obvious Lies!
Okay, I confess: I made the headline intentionally provocative. You shouldn’t lie at all, and you should absolutely forbid witnesses from lying under oath. (If we, the lawyers, don’t obey the law, who will?) I’m thinking today about a person who is not under oath and will be sorely tempted to tell an obvious lie. […] - Sponsored
Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
If 2023 introduced legal professionals to generative AI, then 2024 will be when law firms start adapting to utilize it. Things are moving fast, so… -
Biglaw, Depositions, In-House Counsel, Litigators
Inside Straight: Is Our Lawyer Aggressive Enough?
Why do so many people think that you must be a blowhard to be an effective litigator? I’ve recently heard several tales of business folks (or in-house lawyers) worrying that outside counsel is not aggressive enough. What prompts the concern is the lawyer’s performance during a conference call or at a meeting: The lawyer is […]
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Biglaw, In-House Counsel
Inside Straight: Setting Performance Objectives
Do law firms set performance objectives for their lawyers? I worked at two different law firms over the course of 25 years, and I remember only one meeting where anyone sat down and talked with me about setting performance objectives. We set the objectives; no one ever followed up to see whether I’d achieved them; […] -
Biglaw, In-House Counsel, Interview Stories, Small Law Firms
Inside Straight: Tales From The Interview Crypt
Mark Herrmann wishes he could name names; he really does. But he works at the world's leading insurance broker for law firms, and he can't go around offending the clients (or potential clients). You'll just have to guess. All of these interviews actually took place. He swears it. He didn't say these stories were uplifting. He said only that they were true.... -
Federal Judges, Frank Easterbrook, In-House Counsel, Litigators
Inside Straight: Institutionalizing Mediocrity
Here’s my thesis: We create rules to hedge against ineptitude, and we thus institutionalize mediocrity. Here are the examples. First, someone — the Administrative Office of the Courts? God? — creates rules to hedge against incomprehensible judicial opinions, and we thus discourage judges from writing exceptional opinions. When new federal appellate judges attend what is […] -
Biglaw, In-House Counsel, Litigators, Securities Law, Wall Street
Inside Straight: A Requiem To Epiphanies
In the first lawsuit (during the proxy fight), the judge held that certain statements made in proxy materials were false and misleading. That lawsuit settled. In the next lawsuit (the 10b-5 class action), plaintiffs explain that precisely the same statements appeared in an annual report, and it is now settled law that those words are […] -
Biglaw, In-House Counsel, Practice Pointers, Shameless Plugs
Inside Straight: You Are Not A Potted Plant!
First, a shameless plug. Then, back to business. I’ll be giving my “book talk” about The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Practicing Law at The University of Michigan Law School on Monday, March 5, and again at Northwestern University Law School on Tuesday, March 27. If there’s a chance your organization might be interested in that talk, […] - Sponsored
Navigating Financial Success by Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Maximizing Firm Performance
In this CLE-eligible webinar, we’ll explore the most common accounting pitfalls and how to avoid them for your firm. -
Biglaw, In-House Counsel, Job Searches, Partner Issues
Inside Straight: Silly Email Of The Year Award
The “commenters” at Above the Law are — as you know if you’ve ever looked — a tough crowd. If you’re a partner at a big firm, then you’re a loser, because you’re a workaholic stiff with no life. If you’re a partner at a small firm, then you’re a loser, because you couldn’t succeed […] -
Biglaw, Blogging, Books, In-House Counsel, Law Reviews, Media and Journalism
Inside Straight: 'Recreational' Writing, In-House and Out
Complete honesty is such a dangerous thing. I’m going to give it a shot. I’m posing three questions to myself today. First, why might a lawyer at a law firm choose to write articles? Second, what topics should lawyers write about, and where should they publish the articles? Finally, why might an in-house lawyer choose […] -
Biglaw, General Counsel, In-House Counsel, Partner Issues
Inside Straight: If You Touch It, It's Yours!
Here’s the sad rule: If it comes across your desk, then you’re responsible for it. Period. That’s the rule at law firms. It was my rule when I worked at a firm, and it’s the rule that I now impose on outside lawyers. Thus, when I was a partner, I did not tolerate this excuse […] -
Books, Constitutional Law, In-House Counsel, Law Professors, Litigators
Inside Straight: Torpedoing Class Actions
In 2009, Professor Martin H. Redish of Northwestern Law School published a book arguing that class actions are in large part unconstitutional: Wholesale Justice: Constitutional Democracy and the Problem of the Class Action Lawsuit (Stanford Univ. Press 2009). Where is the practicing bar? I understand that nobody reads law review articles or books published by […] -
Biglaw, Blogging, In-House Counsel, Media and Journalism, Social Media, Technology
Inside Straight: Should My Big Firm Blog?
It’s tough being the managing partner of Bigg & Mediocre. All of the hard issues land on my desk. We’ve hired a new Chief Marketing Officer, and this guy recommends that we launch some firm-branded blogs. Press reports say that 94 percent of the AmLaw 100 plan to use blogs as part of their marketing […]
Sponsored
Sponsored
Navigating Financial Success by Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Maximizing Firm Performance
In this CLE-eligible webinar, we’ll explore the most common accounting pitfalls and how to avoid them for your firm.
Sponsored
Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
If 2023 introduced legal professionals to generative AI, then 2024 will be when law firms start adapting to utilize it. Things are moving fast, so…
Sponsored
The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
ChatGPT ushers in the age of generative AI – even for law firms.
Sponsored
Sponsored
Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
The rise of remote work has dramatically reshaped the relationship between Lawyers and Law Firms, see how Scale LLP has taken the steps to get…
Sponsored
Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
How to best leverage generative AI as an early adopter with ethical use.
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Accounting / Accountants, Drugs, In-House Counsel, Litigators, Music, Plaintiffs Firms
Inside Straight: Learning Who To Hate
Cops learn to hate people. Basically everyone they encounter is a criminal, so cops soon come to believe that everyone is a criminal. Litigators — or perhaps litigators who are repeat players in a particular field — learn to hate people. Personal injury insurance defense counsel come to believe that all plaintiffs are lying fakers. […] -
In-House Counsel, Interview Stories, Job Searches
Inside Straight: Revamping Interviews Entirely
A couple of weeks ago, I posted about the difference between résumé-based interviews and behavioral interviews. (In a nutshell, résumé-based interviews ask applicants for opinions about their personal histories; behavioral interviews ask for factual descriptions of how applicants handled certain situations in their lives.) I really didn’t expect that to be a controversial topic, but […] -
Biglaw, In-House Counsel, Job Searches, Partner Issues
Inside Straight: A Partner's Lament
In-house columnist Mark Herrmann considers the plight of the big firm partner. You succeeded at law school, succeeded at your law firm, have hot and cold running associates at your disposal, are being paid the riches of Croesus every year, and are perceived by the world as being wonderfully successful. What the heck are you complaining about? -
Biglaw, Billable Hours, General Counsel, In-House Counsel, Money
Inside Straight: Inflating Your Own Outside Legal Spend
Years ago, I handled a pro bono case for a client unable to afford legal services. (I actually handled a fair number of pro bono cases, but I’m choosing to describe just one here.) The client was a very nice guy, and he desperately needed legal services. But he had no idea how to use […] -
Biglaw, Blogging, Continuing Legal Education / CLE, In-House Counsel, Media and Journalism, Partner Issues
Inside Straight: Building A Practice -- A Case Study
How do you build a practice for a law firm? Everyone has a theory; I’ll provide a case study. In 1997, Congress was about to pass a law that would have been great for America, but horrific for business at the law firm at which I then worked. The firm thus (intelligently) created several committees […] -
In-House Counsel, Interview Stories, Job Searches
Inside Straight: Thinking About Interviews
People have occasionally asked me for advice about interview techniques. My suggestion has always been short and pointed: “Say something smart. Say something funny. Ask a good question. And get the heck out of there.” What about on the other side of the table? I really don’t trust interviews. I don’t believe that it’s possible […] -
American Bar Association / ABA, Back to the Future, Billable Hours, General Counsel, In-House Counsel
Inside Straight: Things Will Not Return To Normal After The Recession!
Here’s a puzzle for you. What decade am I discussing in the following paragraphs? I’m doing something a little different here. The entire text of this column appears before the jump. I’ve hidden only the citations after the jump. Ponder while you read these paragraphs when the source materials supporting these words were written: The […]