PLI Law Firm Leadership and Management Institute 2010

Overview

Why You Should Attend

In the past few years we have seen leading firms dissolve and others struggle to keep and attract new clients.  After decades of expansion, the current recession is testing the viability of large law firms, their structures, the range of services they provide and how they charge for them.  Clients are demanding changes.  Law firm leaders must react.  Yet they are challenged and even uncertain about what to do. Law firm leadership skills are neither taught in law school nor acquired by excelling at the practice of law.  These skills come from hands on experience and by learning valuable lessons from those who have faced and handled similar responsibilities.  Failure often teaches as much as success.

This Institute offers a faculty of the best and brightest in the industry - law firm leaders, general counsel, consultants and academics who will provide you with a framework to develop an understanding of the elements of law firm leadership; how to evaluate and overcome challenges, both internal and external, and benefit from new opportunities.

What You Will Learn

• The status of the law firm industry today - What does the future hold?  Must there be winners and losers?  How to recognize success and what is failure?
• A range of responses to the current economic environment and other challenges facing law firms today
• What do clients really want and are law firms providing it?
• Should you manage your firm by the numbers, and if so which numbers or not?
• How law firms strategize - should they be driven by profits, clients, importance of engagements, values, or something else?
• The constraints placed on the freedom of action by ethical rules that define the profession
• What your associates and other professionals want from the firm
• How to plan for leadership succession

Who Should Attend

Managing Partners, Chairmen, Senior Partners and those  acquiring new or different management responsibilities at law firms, as well as General Counsel, Chief Financial Officers and all professionals seeking to gain a better understanding of what it takes to run a law firm and be successful in delivering a valuable service to clients.

Special Features

• Case Study on Law Firm Management presented by Ashish Nanda, Center for Law and the Professions, Harvard Law School
• Luncheon Presentation on "Ethics and the Management of Law Firms" - Earn 1 hour of Ethics Credits
• Luncheon Presentation: "Future of Legal Education" presented by Dean David E. Van Zandt, Ph.D., Northwestern University School of Law
• Networking Cocktail Party

Live Webcast

Simultaneous live webcast of the New York session is available for individual viewing. Webcast participants will receive streaming audio and/or video of the program, view and print the Course Handbook, and have the ability to submit questions electronically.

For more information click on the Live Webcast link in the Related Items box.

Special Bonus to all Registrants

All attendees receive a complimentary copy of PLI's comprehensive Course Handbook. This softcover, bound volume was written to augment this program and to stand alone as a permanent reference. PLI's Course Handbooks represent the definitive thinking of the nation's finest legal minds, and are often the standard reference in the field.

Please Note: Webcast attendees will receive a downloadable version of the Handbook one business day prior to the program.

PLI Group Discounts

Groups of 4-14 from the same organization, all registering at the same time, for a PLI program scheduled for presentation at the same site, are entitled to receive a group discount. For further discount information, please contact membership@pli.edu or call (800) 260-4PLI.

PLI Can Arrange Group Viewing to Your Firm

Contact the Groupcasts Department via email at groupcasts@pli.edu for more details.

Cancellations

All cancellations received 3 business days prior to the program will be refunded 100%. If you do not cancel within the allotted time period, payment is due in full. You may substitute another individual to attend the program at any time.

Schedule

Please plan to arrive with enough time to register before the conference begins. A networking breakfast will be available upon your arrival.

Day One:  9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Morning Session:  9:00 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.

9:00  Opening Remarks and Introduction

9:15  The Law Firm in Today's World

• Evolution of the law firm - how did we get here?
• The current economic environment and how to respond to the challenges
• What is the future of the industry and the possibilities for leading law firms?
• How do global, national, NY based, specialist and smaller firms handle the challenges today?
• What can you do to distinguish your law firm in a highly competitive market?

Moderator: David M. Barnard

Panel: Candace K. Beinecke, H. Rodgin Cohen, Thomas A. Cole, John R. Ettinger

10:45  Networking Break

11:00  What Do Clients Want Today?

• Billing issues: billable hour, value billing or…?
• Managing relationships with outside counsel
• Communication "best practices" with outside counsel
• Thinking outside the box - alternative forms of collaboration?
• Role of technology in between firm and corporation

Moderator: Susan J. Hackett
Panel:  Michael D. Fricklas, Andrew D. Hendry, Esta Eiger Stecher

12:30  Networking Break

12:45  Luncheon Presentation

"Educating the Next Generation of Lawyers"

Dean David E. Van Zandt, Ph.D.

Afternoon Session:  1:45 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

1:45  Managing by the Numbers or Not

• Law Firm Economics 101
• Is credit drying up?
• Profits per Partner, Compensation, Recognition
• Where is the value? How do you quantify?
• Why numbers aren't the answer

Moderator: David M. Barnard
Presenter: Norm Mullock
Panel: Martin Frederic "Rick" Evans, Michael Hersch, Lester S. Pataki, Barton J. Winokur

3:15  Networking Break

3:30  Is Consolidation Inevitable?

• With diminished volume of business, is further consolidation desirable/inevitable?
• What matters - culture or economics?
• Large groups may be desirable, but are they real?
• What is the price of lateral hires?

Moderator: Arthur B. Culvahouse, Jr.
Panel: Francis B. Burch, Steven H. Davis, Jon Lindsey

5:00  Adjourn

5:15  Networking Cocktail Party

Day Two:  9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Morning Session:  9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

9:00  Why Must Law Firms be Strategic?

• How different types of law firms are managed
• How to manage if not managing by the numbers
• How to utilize value as a form of management
• Is profit the only strategy?

Moderator: Mark Shapiro
Panel: Evan R. Chesler, William J. Perlstein, Peter John Sacripanti

10:30  Networking Break

10:45  You Need to Know What Your Lawyers Want

• Are firm training programs working?
• How to attract and keep the best and brightest
• Are your attorneys' interests aligned with the firms goals?
• Compensation plans - what works, what doesn't
• Does lockstep and leverage still work?
• Quality vs. quantity-based compensation structure

Moderator: Mark Shapiro

Panel: Heather Bock, PhD, David Lat, Francis M. Milone

12:15  Networking Break

12:30  Luncheon Presentation

"Ethics and the Management of Law Firms"

Anthony E. Davis

Afternoon Session:  1:45 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

1:45  Live Case Study: Bingham McCutchen

• Hear live case study with Ashish Nanda and Jay Zimmerman
• Discussion of the firm's evolution, strategy and structure
• Hear about strategic challenges confronting law firms as well as the opportunities and approaches to managing them

Ashish Nanda, Jay Zimmerman

3:15  Break

3:30  Leadership Succession Planning

• How to coach for leadership
• What does it take to be a leader?
• How to determine who the next leader will be
• What are the qualities necessary to be the Chairman of a firm?

Moderator: Kathy G. Gallo

Panel: Eric J. Friedman, Brad S. Karp, Susan C. Levy

5:00  Program Concludes

Faculty

Chairperson(s)

David M. Barnard, Founding Partner, Blaqwell, Inc.

Speaker(s)

Candace K. Beinecke, Chair, Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP
Heather Bock, Chief Professional Development Officer, Professional Development, Howrey LLP
Francis B. Burch, Chairman, DLA Piper
Evan R. Chesler, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP
H. Rodgin Cohen, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
Thomas A. Cole, Sidley Austin LLP
Arthur B. Culvahouse, Jr., Chair, O'Melveny & Myers LLP
Anthony E. Davis, Lawyers for the Profession® practice group, Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP
Steven H. Davis, Chairman, Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP
John R. Ettinger, Managing Partner, Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP
Martin "Rick" Evans, Presiding Partner, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
Michael D. Fricklas, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, Viacom Inc.
Eric J. Friedman, Executive Partner, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
Kathy G. Gallo, Managing Partner, Goodstone Group LLC
Susan J. Hackett, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC)
Andrew D. Hendry, Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, Colgate-Palmolive Company
Michael Hersch, Executive Director, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
Brad S. Karp, Chair of the Firm, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP
David Lat, Founding Editor, AboveTheLaw.com
Susan C. Levy, Managing Partner, Jenner & Block LLP
Jon Lindsey, Managing Partner, New York, Major, Lindsey & Africa
Francis M. Milone, Chair, Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP
Norm Mullock, Vice President, Product Strategy, LexisNexis Redwood Analytics
Ashish Nanda, Faculty Chair, Executive Education; Research Director, Center for Law and the Professions, Harvard Law School
Lester S. Pataki, Managing Director, Chairman of the Law Firm Group & National Banking Practice Leader, JP Morgan Private Wealth Management
William J. Perlstein, Co-Managing Partner, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP
Peter John Sacripanti, Co Chair, McDermott Will & Emery LLP
Mark Shapiro, Partner, Blaqwell, Inc.
Esta Eiger Stecher, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.
David E. Van Zandt, Dean and Professor of Law, Northwestern University School of Law
Barton J. Winokur, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Dechert LLP
Jay S. Zimmerman, Chairman, Bingham McCutchen LLP

Program Attorney(s)

Anita C. Shapiro, Practising Law Institute

CLE Credit

Travel Information

New York City Seminar Location

PLI New York Center, 810 Seventh Avenue at 53rd Street (21st floor), New York, New York 10019. Message Center, program days only: (212) 824-5733.

New York City Hotel Accommodations

The New York Hilton & Towers, 1335 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019. 1 block from PLI Center. Reservations 1-800-HILTONS or, 1-877-NYC-HILT. Please mention that you are booking a room under the Practising Law Institute Corporate rate and the Client File # is N495741. Reservations on line at www.hilton.com and enter the same Client File # in the Corporate ID # field to access Practising Law Institute rates.

The Warwick New York Hotel, 65 West 54th Street New York, NY 10019. 1 block from PLI Center. Reservations 800-223-4099 or, hotel direct 212-247-2700. Please mention that you are booking a room under the Practising Law Institute Corporate rate. Reservations on line at www.warwickhotelny.com Click reservations in menu bar on left. Select desired dates. In 'Special Rates' drop down window select Corporate Rate. In 'Rate Code' enter PLIN. Click search and select desired room type and rate plan. Or, you may email reservation requests to: res.ny@warwickhotels.com.