Chosen one of the Best Books of 2015 by Good Housekeeping and Redbook**A Harper's Bazaar Must-Read**Film and TV Rights Optioned to Paramount**A 2015 USA Best Book Award Winner*As featured in:Huffington Post Books, Harper's Bazaar Magazine, Bloomberg BNA, Vault, Working Mother Magazine, Chicago Tribune, The New York times, Redbook Magazine, Good Housekeeping Magazine: 20 Best Books by Women in 2015, BuzzFeed: September Reads You Must Find Time For, San Francisco Book Review: Best Books for Sweater Weather, Sheknows.com: Most Anticipated Novels of Fall, Culturalist: Best Book Club Reads, YourTango: Incredible Books Every Smart Woman Should Read this Fall
"As a young partner at Dunn & Sullivan, one of New York's most prestigious law firms, Carney Blake has represented dozens of high-profile clients. But being a pawn of Big Law often means defending the corporate dirt bags of the world--the spillers, the drillers, and the killers. Morality aside, Carney is starting to make a name for himself ... So when Carney is suddenly asked by his firm's chairman to represent the plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit--and not, as usual, the corporate bad guys--he warily accepts. Maybe they're turning a corner, he thinks"--
The Great Recession intensified large law firms’ emphasis on financial performance, leading to claims that lawyers in these firms were now guided by business rather than professional values. Based on interviews with more than 250 partners in large firms, Mitt Regan and Lisa H. Rohrer suggest that the reality is much more complex. It is true that large firm hiring, promotion, compensation, and termination policies are more influenced by business considerations than ever before and that firms actively recruit profitable partners from other firms to replace those they regard as unproductive. At the same time, law firm partners continue to seek the non-financial rewards of being members of a distinct profession and are sensitive to whether their firms are committed to providing them. Regan and Rohrer argue that modern firms responding effectively to business demands while credibly affirming the importance of non-financial professional values can create strong cultures that enhance their ability to weather the storms of the modern legal market.
For fans of Don DeLillo and Joseph O’Neill, an enthralling debut about the one percent, what they’ll do to stay on top, and the callous gaze they turn on those below them. Burned-out and alienated, Kilgore associate attorney Stephen Harker spends his work days defending insurance companies against spurious litigation commenced by private soldiers who supported US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Harker’s charismatic, womanizing boss assigns him a case defending insurance behemoth WorldScore against a lawsuit filed by Major Mike "Bud" Thomas, a veteran, former contract soldier, and divorced father seeking compensation for PTSD and injuries suffered in Afghanistan. Just as Harker turns the firm’s full legal power on the wounded, unstable veteran, he commences an unhealthy relationship with his boss’s estranged bohemian wife, setting himself up for a downward existential spiral that almost destroys Harker, until a brutal act of violence presents him with a final shot at redemption. All the Beautiful People We Once Knew is a riveting insider's indictment of the world of the corporate elite and the savage determination with which they fight to maintain control. In a society where the very institutions that should support our returning veterans instead view them with suspicion, this stunning debut is a grim reflection on the ever-growing rift between the classes.
In this insightful, action-oriented book that goes way beyond the usual "business development tips for lawyers", Michelle Cotter Richards, a former Biglaw litigator and in-house counsel, draws on her years of experience coaching Biglaw attorneys to teach readers an entirely new approach to Biglaw business development. Originate contains powerful strategies to help Biglaw attorneys develop business right away, even in the face of the ever-changing market for Biglaw legal services. Originate analyzes the systemic evolution of Biglaw and its future direction, leading to the inescapable conclusion that an entirely new understanding of Biglaw business development is in order. Integrating concepts from experts such as Daniel Pink, Dr. Larry Richard and Susan Swaim Daicoff, lawyers who implement the practical, research-driven concepts in Originate will be poised for success no matter what the future holds for Biglaw. A must read for Biglaw rainmakers and future rainmakers everywhere.
Tournament of Lawyers traces in detail the rise of one hundred of the nation's top firms in order to diagnose the health of the business of American law. Galanter and Palay demonstrate that much of the large firm's organizational success stems from its ability to blend the talents of experienced partners with those of energetic junior lawyers driven by a powerful incentive—the race to win "the promotion-to-partner tournament." This calmly reasoned study reveals, however, that the very causes of the spiraling growth of the large law firm may lead to its undoing. "Galanter and Palay pose questions and offer some answers which are certain to change the way big firm practice is regarded. To describe their work as challenging is something of an understatement: they at times delight, stimulate, frustrate and even depress the reader, but they never disappoint. Tournament of Lawyers is essential to the understanding of the business of the big law firms."—Jean and Colin Fergus, New York Law Journal
In a first-of-its-kind book of honest reflections, straight talk, and essential advice about life at big law firms for people of color, four partners from leading law firms engage in a no-holds-barred conversation about what it takes to make it in big law.
Now in its Second Edition "Growth is Dead" addresses the future of "BigLaw" (or "SophisticatedLaw") in the wake of the great financial reset of 2008 and its continuing repercussions including: (a) relentless pricing pressures; (b) excess capacity; (c) partner expectations; and (d) the accelerating entry of new "legal service provider" organizations, with all their implications for career paths, the traditional leveraged staffing model of law firms, and much more. Brad Karp, Chair of the Firm at Paul Weiss, describes it thus: "I read all 12 installments of your series with great interest...twice. This is an extraordinary body of work that reflects enormous insight and ought be required reading by managing partners of law firms and professional services organizations. You do a very effective job of challenging the status quo and your series is a much-needed wake up call for our profession. As always, I plan to share many of your insights with my partners. And I plan to cogitate over many of your proposed initiatives." "2012 Year in Review: Must-Read." "Any review of 2012 must begin with Bruce MacEwen's 12-part "Growth is Dead" series, which looks at, and analyzes, the monumental effects of the Great Recession on the legal industry." "Immediately became required reading for law firm leaders, by the one and only Bruce MacEwen." - Bloomberg Law "When it comes to the economics of the legal industry, there's Bruce MacEwen and then there's everyone else."
Helen Wan's "engaging and suspenseful" (Wall Street Journal) debut novel, The Partner Track, is now a Netflix series! Ingrid Yung's life is full of firsts. A first-generation Chinese American, the first lawyer in her family, she's about to collect the holy grail of "firsts" and become the first minority woman to make partner at the venerable old Wall Street law firm Parsons Valentine & Hunt. Ingrid has perfected the art of "passing" and seamlessly blends into the old-boy corporate culture. She gamely banters in the corporate cafeteria, plays in the firm softball league, and earnestly racks up her billable hours. But when an offensive incident at the summer outing threatens the firm's reputation, Ingrid's outsider status is suddenly thrown into sharp relief. Scrambling to do damage control, Parsons Valentine announces a new Diversity and Inclusion Initiative, commanding Ingrid to spearhead the effort. Only she's about to close an enormous transaction that was to be her final step in securing partnership. For the first time, Ingrid must question her place in the firm. Pitted against her colleagues, including her golden-boy boyfriend, Ingrid begins to wonder whether the prestige of partnership is worth breaching her ethics. But can she risk throwing away the American dream that is finally within her reach?
This book provides examples of innovative and successful business models from remade law firms to inspire change that goes beyond thinking and planning, and leads straight to implementing change and better client service.
