According to researchers into positive psychology, the study of hedonics and eudemonics, a huge amount of our happiness is determined by social interactions. Having people we like around us brings us joy. Collateral research finds that most moments of “flow,” of feeling involved and productive, result from collaboration with someone…
Spare me the travails of Harvard’s Lawrence Summers, who commented on women in science and unleashed, seriously but pun intended, a maelstrom. Still, having read that “in a recent personality-assessment survey of 420 executive men and women” the results, according to the executive leadership consulting firm conducting the study, were…
To attract and retain talent, law departments may need to bob and weave. Stamping the time card at 8:30, breaks at 10:20 and 2:20 with 40 minutes between for lunch, and rushing out at 5:30 doesn’t attract and hold today’s generation of lawyers. For example, telecommuting encourages more freedom as…
At a recent conference, general counsel from four large law departments estimated that their lawyer group consists of 60, 50, 50 and 45 percent women, respectively. They all acknowledged that the most senior levels were not as balanced but that over time the percentages might well increase. After all, more…
While a traditional salary structure may proliferate 25 or more salary grades in a large law department—often, several ranges for lawyers with the same title, broadbanding reduces the number of ranges to a handful. The broader bands have wider minima and maxima than did the levels in the traditional system,…
As law firms grow into the thousands of lawyers, thus enabling and rewarding more and more specialization; as partnership decisions tighten, thus rewarding practitioners versed in narrower and narrower areas of law; as clients merge and grow, thus encountering more sophisticated legal issues and seeking just the right spice for…
I interview many law department lawyers who are not direct reports to the general counsel. These intermediate and junior level lawyers consistently complain about the insufficiency of communication from the leadership group. They want to know what goes on behind closed doors, among the elite. Sadly, if they actually knew,…
A study of three law departments, all in defense manufacturing, looked at the percentage of lawyers in the departments whose law schools were listed in the US News and World Report rankings of law schools. Graduates of one of the top 25 law schools accounted for about one-third of lawyers…
My top ten reasons why it is difficult to manage in-house counsel (plus a bonus reason): 1. Lawyers view themselves as autonomous, self-directing professionals, not robots. Their scores on a psychometric test (Caliper) shows lawyers to value autonomy much more that the general public (median or average 90, compared to…
Law departments award cash bonuses, but based on what factors? A colleague of mine raised the issue of how determinants of bonuses should be weighted for the following areas of performance: • Company (revenue, share price, EPS, profitability, goal achievement, comparison to peers) • Business unit (for lawyers assigned to…