Dewey's decline and the rise of high-risk Big Law
May 15, 2012: 12:19 PM ETThe firm's fall from grace offers a look into how the once genteel, clubby world of law firms has taken on a hustling business culture of free agent partners.
By Elizabeth G. Olson
FORTUNE -- As top-drawer New York law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf teeters on the edge, likely to fall from high-paid grace, its closely chronicled decline is providing a look into how the once genteel, clubby world of law firms has morphed into a risk-taking, entrepreneurial industry.
"Dewey may be an extreme example," says Robert Gordon, a Stanford Law School professor who is writing a book on the country's legal profession. "But it may also be an example of something that is happening a lot. Law firms have expanded at a greater rate than other businesses. Some have loaded on debt and made promises of compensation that they can't keep."
Most corporate law firms aren't on the skids, but they are being roughed up by the confluence of technology, employee-heavy structures, and corporate cost-cutters determined to lop off a sizeable chunk of their legal costs.
But airing it all in public, through the drip-drip-drip revelations about Dewey's departures and sky-high partner compensation, has laid bare a hustling legal culture. Firms are competing feverishly for lucrative corporate business, working against their counterparts by poaching profit-making partners through the cunning use of eye-popping salary guarantees. This behavior has essentially dismantled the traditional track to partnership, a seat that was usually won after years of in-house training and experience.
MORE: MBAs gone wild: Have B-schoolers gone too far?
"Legal partnerships were brands that drew loyalty, but that changed when partners began to sell themselves to the highest bidder," says Brian Tamanaha, a law professor at Washington University Law School in St. Louis. "We still maintain the facade of being a profession. But when lawyers measure themselves against the highest-paid CEOs or the richest Americans, it's a pretense." More
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MBAs gone wild: Have B-schoolers gone too far?
Excessive drinking and other Mad Men-like behavior has become part of the culture of getting an MBA degree at schools like Harvard and Wharton, including, in some cases, sexual harassment. By John A. Byrne
May 15, 2012 10:49 AM ET -
Yahoo: Chill, it's time to get down to business
Companies spar with activist investors all the time without as much spite. It's time for Yahoo to put aside the theatrics and focus on pulling off a turnaround. By Shelley DuBois
Shelley DuBois, writer-reporter - May 14, 2012 12:16 PM ETPosted in: Activist investors, AOL, Carol Bartz, Daniel Loeb, Employment, Leadership, Scott Thompson, Third Point, Yahoo -
How Dave Cote got Honeywell's groove back
The GE veteran and one-time cod fisherman has led a remarkable turnaround at the industrial giant.
By Shawn Tully, senior editor-at-large
FORTUNE -- Dave Cote is feeling the beat. He takes a sip of Mountain Dew and bobs his head in time to the throbbing bass of Jay-Z's "Hard Knock Life." The CEO of Honeywell International, one of the world's largest industrial conglomerates, with $37.1 billion in sales, is wearing his MORE
May 14, 2012 5:00 AM ETPosted in: aerospace, CEOs, Dave Cote, diversified industrials, Fortune 500, GE, Honeywell, Jack Welch, Manufacturing, turbocharges -
How to get on executive recruiters' radar screens
Giving speeches at industry events is a time-tested way to get noticed by headhunters, but Twitter has made it more of a gamble. Luckily, you have other options. By Anne Fisher
Anne Fisher, contributor - May 11, 2012 10:34 AM ETPosted in: careers, conferences, Executive Recruiters, LinkedIn, public speaking, Speakeasy, Write2Market -
FedEx CEO Fred Smith on ... everything
Smith sounds off on China, the U.S. economy, the value of a good name, and why the government shouldn't pay for a liberal arts education.
By Brian Dumaine, senior editor-at-large
FORTUNE -- When Fred Smith founded FedEx in 1971, he had just returned from the Vietnam War, where he had served as a Marine platoon leader and then a pilot, and he was casting around for something to do. As legend MORE
May 11, 2012 5:00 AM ETPosted in: CEOs, China, Economy, Entrepreneurs, express delivery, FedEx, Fortune 500, Fred Smith, Global economy, infrastructure -
If Obamacare survives, employers may do it in
Whether or not the Supreme Court rules in favor of the president's health care plan, companies are going to find a way to cut costs.
By Geoff Colvin, senior editor-at-large
FORTUNE -- What Fortune 500 companies really want from U.S. health care reform is pretty basic: They want sustainable costs and healthy, productive employees. But business doesn't just want those things; it desperately needs them, and it's going to get them, MORE
May 11, 2012 5:00 AM ETPosted in: employers, Geoff Colvin, Health care, health care reform, Health insurance, President Obama -
McDonald's China CEO on bringing McMuffins to the masses
Kenneth Chan, who heads McDonald's rapid expansion in China, talks about competition with KFC, dealing with slower economic growth, and food safety.
By Wenguang Huang
FORTUNE -- In 1992, when the world's largest McDonald's opened up in China's capital city of Beijing, it seemed that the golden arches would someday replace the golden hammer and sickle as the Communist Party's emblem. China's second outlet, the Beijing McDonald's was located on the MORE
May 10, 2012 11:52 AM ETPosted in: Kenneth Chan, McDonald's -
P&G beauty chief Virginia Drosos to step down
Exclusive: Virginia Drosos, who heads P&G's beauty business, will retire from the company this September. The company is moving its skin care, cosmetics and personal care headquarters to Singapore.
By Jennifer Reingold
FORTUNE -- In a surprise announcement, Procter & Gamble said today that Virginia Drosos, who oversees its beauty business, is retiring from the company, effective September 1, and that the company is moving its skin care, cosmetics and personal care headquarters MORE
May 10, 2012 11:12 AM ETPosted in: Procter & Gamble -
How companies can avoid CEO hiring failure
Here are three ways in which companies can avoid a Yahoo-like debacle. By Dennis Carey, Melanie Kusin, and Jane Stevenson
May 10, 2012 9:46 AM ET
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Converting from a robotic scripted environment to a conversational environment has helped AmEx build relationships with customers. Play -
Influencing customers to tell others about their experience with American Express has turned from a cost to an investment in its business. Play -
Focusing on service has helped American Express create value for customers, and shareholders. Play -
National champions from Asia and South America are changing the makeup of the world's top chemical companies. Play
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