Testimonials and Reviews
I have just read your excellent book on law firms; it should be a compulsory read for all lawyers and law firm management.
I was particularly interested in the material on page 211 regarding the change-averse personality of so many lawyers. I think lawyers become very occupation bound, which makes it very difficult for them in moving to a second career.
In my view you could break this material down further by the types of law people practice. Someone should tackle this subject. Over the years I have seen many lawyers for one reason or another been forced to accept another career, but their personalities make it difficult to change. This involves much more than having multiple qualifications.
Remaking Law Firms is a great effort!
Editor’s note: John Dahlsen is one of Australia’s foremost corporate lawyers and company directors, most notably: Partner of Corrs Chambers Westgarth | Chairman of The Herald and Weekly Times, Woolworths and Melbourne Business School | Co-Chairman and founder of Southern Cross Broadcasting Australia | Deputy Chair Myer Emporium Ltd | Director of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group | Chairman and owner of JC Dahlsen, Australia’s largest independent timber and hardware merchant.
There is currently no roadmap to the future for the chronically myopic, change-averse legal profession. Fortunately, now comes Remaking Law Firms: Why and How which tells us in well-documented detail how to pack our bags for the journey ahead.
Remaking Law Firms is an important contribution to the discussion that is feeding the dreams and nightmares of wise and worried BigLaw partners around the world. When the history of the NewLaw era is finally written, George Beaton will occupy a leading role in its development and execution. You don’t have to buy into everything George says to find value in his views.
Remaking Law Firms blends George Beaton’s twenty-five years of market leading research and legal consulting with Imme Kaschner’s interest in the legal services industry, work and change, to produce an outstanding analysis of the future of the legal profession. They encourage lawyers to challenge their assumptions to meet the rapidly shifting legal environment. Law firm leaders will ignore this book at their peril!
No-one knows exactly what the future holds. Some create their own future; others need to be prepared and flexible for whatever happens. As old certainties disappear and new ones are not available, the most powerful question any strategy process can ask is: “What if…?” There is no better preparation or companion for generating answers to that question than Remaking Law Firms.
The status quo in the legal industry has a way of ossifying in the minds of law firm leaders. We had better get over it. George Beaton and Imme Kaschner predict a world in which change must be embraced as you would an old friend. Ignore their message at your peril.
The inexorable march from a firm-centric legal services world to a client-focused and driven one continues. Firms may agree or disagree with George Beaton’s and Imme Kaschner’s presentation, prognosis and prescription in Remaking Law Firms: Why and How – but only those with hubris or myopia will disregard this compelling work.
The financial boom of the Noughties masked the ending of a golden era of private legal practice. Since the Global Financial Crisis law firms have confronted a new reality but have been ill-equipped to do so. Remaking Law Firms provides just the guidance needed by professional legal management.
George Beaton and Imme Kaschner build a compelling case for change with this accessible, research-based, and remarkably wide-ranging resource for building the future of our profession and practices, inside firms and in-house. For lawyers who are open to it, their insights help clearly identify where opportunities can be seized within the kaleidoscope they describe.
A lively blend of consulting experience and management theory, this book sets a challenging agenda for law firms of the future. With evident expertise, George Beaton and Imme Kaschner ask and answer the central strategy questions for twenty-first century legal businesses.
In the slow growth law firm industry, where competition for work and talent has intensified and pricing pressure is high, building a differentiated brand and a more efficient business model have become more important than ever before. Remaking Law Firms: Why and How is a welcome primer on the challenges and opportunities facing law firm leaders now and in the future.
George Beaton’s Remaking Law Firms offers law firm leaders a comprehensive and pragmatic examination of the present and future legal landscape and what firms can do to make the most of it. As the title suggests, Beaton believes law firms must remake themselves. He provides very valuable counsel on how they should do it.