When Baker & McKenzie LLP, Chicago, decided to create a new position to elevate professional development to a new level within the firm's largest U.S. office, Jennifer Bluestein answered the call. Since then, the firm's PD program has built a vibrant and fast-paced momentum that captures the attention of internal and external audiences, from the firm's lawyers to its clients and recruits.
Statements like, 'We pride ourselves on delivering outstanding levels of client service' sound great. They are the Pavlovian pablum we whip out when we meet new clients, promote ourselves on our Web sites, write the openings of our RFPs, and attract laterals. The problem is, they're just not true.
In-depth analysis of recent rulings.
Everything contained in this issue, in an easy-to-read format.
Mapping and measuring a firm's culture and core competencies is undoubtedly an exhaustive process with numerous stages of analysis. Done correctly, it will likely challenge many of the firm's longest held beliefs and assumptions. For those willing to undergo this rigorous analysis, the result will be a strategic framework that identifies the sources of its competitive advantages and enables the firm's management to focus its efforts on manufacturing and perpetuating the cultural attributes that will sustain the core competencies of the firm.
When the state condemns a temporary easement that encumbers the frontage of a vacant parcel, but uses the easement for only a fraction of the easement's total duration, how should the landowner's compensation be computed? In McCurdy v. State, the Court of Appeals concluded that landowner was entitled to consequential damages for harm to the interior land not encumbered by the easement, but only for the period when the state's use of the easement obstructed landowner's access to the interior of the parcel.
Even in today's increasingly non-union workplace, management must not ignore laws enacted primarily to protect unions. To do so could have a serious impact on non-union environments. All employers should exercise caution before taking disciplinary or other adverse action against employees for conduct that could be perceived as group activity. Here's why.
Just when some thought it might be safe to presume that class action discrimination lawsuits under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act were on the wane, several recent decisions involving the huge retailer, Wal-Mart, Inc., should give many employers pause for thought.
