You can imagine how gratifying it was for me to see The Wired GC's post of today's date, Out of the Box, Into the Bag: "Bottom line for me: Reed Smith appears aware that the market for legal services is changing, and that its lawyers must change as well."
The Wired GC points to an Adam Smith post I'd previously missed (Blindingly Obvious (To Those Who Would See)), which is also a pleasure to read: "My reaction? Nearly awe-struck at the vision of Reed-Smith to undertake this venture. You've heard me say it before, but conceptually nothing differentiates AmLaw 100 firms as businesses from similarly sized corporations, and the time for truly professionalized management has long since arrived."
These come my way hard on the white shoe heels of Laura Owen's Change or Die article where, in the midst of what is basically a scathing indictment of business-as-usual at law firms, Laura cites Reed Smith's 50 State HIPAA Privacy Study as a positive example of the kind of thing firms ought to be doing. It's great to see the firm is sending the message we get how important it is to use all the ingenuity and resources at our disposal to give clients the best service possible. In fact, it makes my day. But there's much more we can do, and one of the things I like best about my firm is the way people there consistently think about and plan for how we can do it.
Bonus link: My interview with Reed Smith University's "Chancellor" and some of its "Deans" (all of whom are good examples of the kind of managers Adam mentions).
Tuesday, January 11, 2005 at 9:03PM