Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton, Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths & Total Nonsense: Profiting from Evidence-Based Management (Harvard Bus. School Press 2006) at 192-3 amass research evidence to show that leaders “actions rarely explain more than 10 percent of the differences in performance between the best and worst organizations and…
Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton, Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths & Total Nonsense: Profiting from Evidence-Based Management (Harvard Bus. School Press 2006) state at 91 that while “intelligence is the most powerful predictor of job performance,” that predictor seldom correlates more than 0.4 with performance (See my post of Jan.…
Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton, Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths & Total Nonsense: Profiting from Evidence-Based Management (Harvard Bus. School Press 2006) at 88 summarizes an “exhaustive” study of 19 methods that organizations use to select new employees. The best measure was general mental ability, like IQ and related measures…
Wouldn’t it make sense a priori that many who obtain the two degrees – an LLB or JD and an MBA – would gravitate toward the overlap of business and law – a law department? Someone could pore through directories and gather some data on the incidence of in-house lawyers…
Power corrupts and for some general counsel, secure at the top of the food chain, immersed in galactic issues, hobnobbing with rich and powerful Board members and executive VPs, flooded with invitations to declaim on their Olympian wisdom, pursued by journalists and puffed up by press clippings, it’s hard to…
Why does the perception exist that career paths in law departments don’t match career paths in law firms? There may be more management roles in a large law firm, such as practice head of the environmental group or partner responsible for marketing, but given a large enough law department comparable…
The latest issue of Consulting, Vol. 8, Nov./Dec. 2006 at 17, states that at McKinsey, BCG, and Bain, the average consultant receives 81, 79, and 66 hours of training per year, respectively. I’ve not seen data from law departments that states time spent on training. The consultants’ survey included many…
According to Robert Half Legal’s summary in Met. Corp. Counsel, Vol. 14, Dec. 2006 at 56, law departments should expect to pay for “midlevel paralegals with 4-6 years of experience” salaries in the range of $45,250 to $58,000. Departments should expect to pay “senior executive legal secretaries with seven or…
The law firm of Greenberg Traurig numbers 1,650 attorneys in 33 offices around the world. According to Smart Bus. Miami, Dec. 2006, Cesar Alvarez, the president and CEO of the fast-growing firm, places great value on collaboration among his partners. At year end, every partner answers a few questions on…
As defined by a task force’s recent report, a corporate attorney has an “extreme job” if the attorney works 60 hours a week and suffers at least five additional characteristics from a list of 10. According to the NY Times, Dec. 3, 2006 at Sec. 10, pg. 1, “These [blights]…