The once-unthinkable is out there: Law firm Boies Schiller seems wobbly (think rumored cash flow problems) and could collapse.
When Dewey & LeBoeuf was on its downward trajectory, there were myriad articles about lessons which should be learned from what would be a gigantic thud in the law-firm sector.
It's no longer premature to speculate about what lessons can be learned from the distress Boies Schiller seems to be in.
Here are 5, of the many:
The court of public opinion can take precedence over what is done to be a fierce advocate for a client. There is a line not to be crossed.
The fallout from how David Boies sought to defend Harvey Weinstein has been brutal and sustained. Here The New Yorker exposes his strategy and tactics.
And his aggressive behavior on behalf of Theranos and its founder Elizabeth Holmes will be even more obvious when "U.S. v. Elizabeth Holmes" goes to trial next March (which COVID-19 will likely delay yet again). Meanwhile we have the book "Bad Blood" to get the full details of Boies' strong-arm tactics with The Wall Street Journal.
Even in a prestigious firm the divine right of kings is less and less acceptable. The founders of the firm demanded a cut of the revenue. That was perceived by some of the help as a kind of tax imposed. Way back when England's King George III tried that with the American colonists. They broke away, as have 60 Boies Schiller partners just in 2020.
Official and unofficial law firm policies will have to become less despotic. A new generation of lawyers has entered BigLaw. Like their fellow Millennials they are focused on changing the culture. Their edge is that they have technology down cold, which the leadership doesn't. That tech savvy can be weaponized. If they remain unhappy with the organizational culture, they can band together and launch competitive boutique law firms.
Compromise is often necessary, even when one is holding a strong hand. There was the possibility of a merger with Cadwalader. But that might never have gotten off the ground because the media has it that Boies Schiller was unwilling to share financial details. Also founder Jonathan Schiller mandated his name be part of the title for the new entity created.
That merger could have saved the legacy of the major players at Boies Schiller. Now, all could be lost. Power brokers have to understand when to hold and when to fold.
Make succession planning a priority. Without a clear succession plan for when the founder steps back, no one can feel secure about the law-firm brand or the terms and conditions of their employment.
What Boies fooled around with didn't have traction. He is 79 years old. The big gun in that loop - Nick Gravante - has left.
Admittedly, even careful succession planning doesn't always guarantee the continuation of success. The classic example of that had been GE. Jack Welch bet on the wrong horse to succeed him.
In short, the transition in leadership is always a tricky time. Handled badly or in a misguided manner, it could be the tipping point for the decline of the business.
Branding should transcend the founding fathers/mothers and the high-profile players. From the get-go, it's demoralizing to have what might be considered a "cabal" dominate the media headlines. And, some speculate the media is the most powerful entity in the world. Its reach is beyond that of wealth or government. In addition, there's too much risk to have the reputation of a business so totally tied to one leader or a small group.
It's a fundamental in public relations not to feature any one person in most kinds of messaging. That person could soon be in prison for embezzling or some other brand-eroding activity.
The more sustainable positioning and packaging are the models established by Joe Andrew at Dentons and Brad Karp at Paul Weiss. They are only one among many. Their law-firm's identity is not tied to them.
There are many other factors involved in the present troubles of Boies Schiller.
The real takeaway here is the old adage: Nothing fails like success. Every one in a law firm has to be hyper-aware of what is changing and what could change.
A reminder of how fragile businesses are is the seminal book from the early 1980s "In Search of Excellence" by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman. It focuses on how many companies that had been major players had failed. Ironically, some of the businesses those two management consultants praised, such as Wang Laboratories, had also gone kaput.
To paraphrase that line from William Shakespeare's history play "Henry IV" - Uneasy lies the fate of the business which wears the crown.
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