Wired GC

law from the inside out

Law Firm Mergers: Gone in 60 Seconds

Enough of the Howrey retrospective, we wish everyone one involved the best. Today, something to show that these things happen, and the law moves on.

One angle profiled on Day 2 of this review was that a merger was never really an option for Howrey. This explains why those early stories involving Winston & Strawn as a potential merger partner faded away quickly.

I thought this sounded familiar, so I went back into the Wired GC super-secret archives, to find a video that was posted for only a few days. I found it.

Back in August of 2008, there was talk of a potential merger between Heller Ehrman and Mayer Brown. These rumors proved unfounded, and Heller Ehrman was effectively done a month later. Shortly after the first reports of merger talks, I prepared a short video commentary on the subject of large law firm mergers. Within a few days of that posting, when Heller’s true problems started to emerge, I pulled the plug on it.

Since the statute has probably run at this point, I post it again below. Not sure for how long.

It still has a bit of currency, some 30 months later:

(The cash register receipt is hard to read; and is available here.)

Law School: Corporate Legal Job Market Video

Yesterday we looked at some of the information in the waiting room for the law-student-to-be.

Today, rather than a bunch of words, we have a 9 minute video. It covers how the corporate legal job market has evolved and what it means to someone interested in law school.

If you were in the corporate legal world, these 9 minutes would be rounded to 12, and written down as 0.2 hours. At the $500/hr billing rate of the law firms you hope to get hired by, this video would cost a mere $100. But wait, that’s the value pricing. This actually took 90 minutes to prepare and produce. So it’s really $750. We accept Visa/MC/Discover or PayPal.

Enjoy!

Tomorrow, a few ideas on how to think through the process outlined at the end of the video.

The Legal Videoconference of the Future?

YouTube has put up one of their first videos in 1080p, High Definition. Appropriately enough, it’s the Muppets performing Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” (rendered safe for the kiddies when Animal mumbles through the start of the second stanza. Mama!).

To watch in in full HD glory, do three things:

(1) click on the white arrow in the center;
(2) then click on HD icon that appears on the control bar at the lower right, and
(3) try the full-screen option by clicking on the next icon to it’s right.

Depending upon your bandwidth and processor speed, prepare to see how a lot of things are going to change. (If you’re on a slow pipe, with an old desktop, you may have to toggle back to regular definition, which isn’t nearly as good on full screen).

And if you watched the entire video, Kermit even gets off a nice jab at the end on the value of some videoconferences. Here’s the direct link at YouTube.

When you see it in full-screen, you see how much better it is than some of the grainy computer video links you’ve seen in the past. This sort of thing is what will drive the need to upgrade computers, and open up more bandwidth. This is also why Cisco is trying to purchase Tandberg and Logitech is buying LifeSize. (Cisco wins in almost any case as more bandwith equals more demand for its routers and other high-tech plumbing for the cyber-pipes).

Some years down the road, lawyers will see this as part of their practice and connecting with clients. The only challenge? You and moi may have to put on makeup before the next virtual meeting with the global team.

(Via Gizmodo and Jordan Furlong on Twitter)

Deflation and the Billable Hour – Wired GC TV

Here is the February, 2009 edition of Wired GC TV.

Turn up your speakers, grab some popcorn, click on the arrow, and enjoy…



(Sorry for the abrupt ending; I shouldn’t edit during Super Bowl festivities…)