About This Site

What and Why

I conceived the idea for "Adam Smith, Esq." in 2003 and actually launched it at the start of 2004.  Long fascinated by the transformational potential of the blog platform as a new publishing medium, at the time I found myself disappointed by the paucity of sites with a serious, even rigorous, business mission.   Surveying the legal online landscape, I suspected there might be room for an analytically focused, professionally produced publication addressing what was and is my passion—the economics of law firms.  Not only did there appear to be no sites consistently addressing those issues, altogether too many lacked either a polished, adult tone of voice, an approach driven by critical thinking, or both.

Where did the name "Adam Smith, Esq." came from?  Adam Smith (the original) is an intellectual hero of mine.  He gave the modern world the priceless and ineffable gift of capitalism.  When I was majoring in economics in college, I realized again and again how often we depend to this day on his insights and his analytic foundation to drive the market systems that give us today's unprecedented prosperity.  I believe it no exaggeration to say that the intellectual framework he developed around markets, the division of labor, and the sources of "the wealth of nations" spurred the progress of the human race as powerfully as any technological invention.  [We can debate whether all that progress has been an unalloyed benefit, but to my mind that's an argument at the margins, and by no stretch of the imagination a fundamental challenge to what market-driven economies can achieve for their people.] 

So when the notion sprung into my mind of combining "Adam Smith" with law, the branding "Adam Smith, Esq." seemed perfect.  The only problem at the time was that everyone I asked strongly advised against it:  "No one knows who he is;"  "It's too obscure;"  "Adam who?;" "You'll put people off;" "Sounds way too cerebral to me;" etc.  Some times you just have to go with your instincts.

As the site has evolved and as I have confirmed my hope that I would find a consistent and approachable "tone of voice" for it, the most important reasons for its continued existence and my continued enthusiasm about it are:

• The readers and the community.  I do not exaggerate when I say that the most compelling professional and emotional benefit I have derived from "Adam Smith, Esq." are the virtual- and real-world connections I have made with people from literally across the English-speaking world whom I would never have had the chance to engage with otherwise.
  
• The ability to foster and support an on-going dialogue about the management of law firms.  While it's a commonplace to say that their management has become increasingly professionalized in the past decade or two (to the point where the managerial infrastructure of the typical large firm today would be unrecognizable to the managing committee of, say, 1985), I happen to believe this development is:
  • of surpassing importance to the profession;
  • almost without exception positive; and
  • far from complete.

The opportunity to be part of the conversation surrounding this consummately fascinating trend is, to me, the highlight of my career. I hope you find the discussion as rich as do I.

Rules of the Road, Technical Stuff, &c.

The Platform:  This site is built on the wonderfully flexible and powerful platform of Movable Type, which I commend without reservation to anyone contemplating their own online publication —or who already has one built on Brand X.  Not only is Movable Type the strongest "infrastructure engine" that I'm aware of, the user support community is second to none.  As the inevitable technical questions have arisen, and I have had occasion to post to their support forums, I think the mean time before getting a response, which is invariably both knowledgeable and graceful, is about 45 minutes.

The Editor is "In:"  Please let me know what you do and do not like about this site.  What would you like to see more of?  Less of? 

My goal is to make the site, as they used to say in the Net's Paleolithic Era, "Truly Useful."  It will only become so if the community tells me what they think.

Thanks for visiting; stay in touch.