No Stimulus for Detroit Lawyers
May 27, 2009 | Filed Under In the News
Just minutes ago, GM announced that its equity swap offer to bondholders has failed. Chapter 11 is now almost a certainty, likely by the end of the week.
Writing from the secure Wired GC bunker that’s about as close to GM headquarters as the electric range of a Chevy Volt, you’d think I’d be hearing two cheers from the Detroit bar about the potential windfall from a local bankruptcy mega-filing.
No so fast, as the New York Times noted yesterday, the chance of a Detroit filing:
… is unlikely, however, as bankruptcy cases are typically handled in New York or Delaware, where many business are incorporated and the bankruptcy courts have more experience handling complex filings.
With Chrysler filing in New York, GM is expected to follow suit. Michigan officials have been lobbying for a Detroit filing, most notably AG Mike Cox.
I do have one idea for the Obama administration: let all the lawyers working for GM, Treasury or the UAW know that no fee requests will be supported unless they start buying and driving American.
C’mon down, the lot is full of great deals.
(P.S.: The nuclear Wired GC family drives two Chevys, a Ford and a Pontiac.)
Jim Collins on BigLaw?
May 19, 2009 | Filed Under Law Firm Trends, Managing
Best-selling author Jim Collins releases a new book today: “How the Mighty Fall.” Here’s an overview, in his own words, courtesy of BusinessWeek Video (4 mins; click on the arrow at the lower left to start, then the “||” to stop):
Here are the stages of failure:
Stage 1: Hubris Born of Success
Stage 2: Undisciplined Pursuit of More
Stage 3: Denial of Risk and Peril
Stage 4: Grasping for Salvation
Stage 5: Capitulation to Irrelevance or Death
I have the book on order; I’ll resist connecting the dots with the legal industry until I’ve read it. Mr. Collins has an uncanny knack for distilling management research into easily comprehended ideas of wide application.
Until then, here was his definition of hubris:
The outrageous arrogance that inflicts suffering upon the innocent.
Hmmmm…
(Update 23 May 09: New York Times has a fascinating profile of Mr. Collins and the process followed in writing his new book here.)
Malcolm Gladwell Hasn’t Met Many Lawyers
May 15, 2009 | Filed Under Change, Legal Ed
Which is probably good for us…
Mr. Gladwell shows skill with the spoken word as well as the written one, when quoted at a conference about the financial crisis, asserting its cause “was not due to incompetence or regulatory failure, but psychological failure — the fact that bankers were overconfident.” He call this being “miscalibrated,” an overestimation of one’s ability to predict and control the environment.
Then he dispenses the following medicine in the general direction of doctors:
“Incompetence is certainty in the absence of expertise.”
“Overconfidence is certainty in the presence of expertise.”
As an example, he cited doctors as “among the most spectacularly miscalibrated people on the face of the earth.”
I will say after attending a medical school graduation last week that if doctors are miscalibrated at least they have two years of real-life training when they graduate (and then move immediately to a residency of three to seven years!). Lawyers can’t say that when foisted upon the legal market…
If I follow Mr. Gladwell’s argument, that means lawyers must learn on the job to move from incompetent to overconfident. Doctors have a bit of a head start.
There is much in the law today that if it’s not overconfidence, it’s a rather strong brand of wishful thinking. This sort of thing about legal spending comes to mind.
We have entered an era where size will be a boon for some, and a real boat anchor for many others.
(Mr. Gladwell writes about how some modern-day Davids prevail against Goliaths in the current New Yorker.)
Keeping Company Secrets - James Boutrous Interview
May 1, 2009 | Filed Under Litigation, Unplugged - Audio
Many companies are consolidating operations and reducing headcount. Unfortunately, this difficult process can be made even more challenging as some employees depart with more than a severance check.
Today we have an interview on this subject with James Boutrous of the Butzel Long firm as the Wired GC goes:
James Boutrous
Butzel Long
Just press on the far left arrow to listen:
Time: 11:40
This subject, and others, will be addressed in greater detail at next week’s SuperConference in Chicago; program and registration information for this offering from Inside Counsel is available here.
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