Indiana University School of Law at Bloomington—where my good friend Prof. William Henderson teaches—will be hosting a symposium on "The Globalization of the Legal Profession" Friday, April 6, 2006.  I'm pleased to report that I will be one of the panelists.

On the agenda:

• Law Firm Strategy in a global world, including "What management structures are necessary to govern a global law firm with offices on multiple continents?"
• Relevance of Geography, including "Are some locations, based on longitudinal growth patterns, emerging as truly international legal cities for firms attempting to fit the transnational model?"  Or, phrased differently, why are more firms hoisting their flag in New York, London, and Hong Kong, despite those cities' having among the highest operating cost structures on the planet?
• Convergence, including:  "Can transnational law firms successfully balance the competing goals of higher profitability and professional autonomy? To what extent is the practice of law, and identity of lawyers, converging around certain practices and values? If so, are those practices/values those characteristic of the US legal profession?

The conference will be in a somewhat hybrid format, blending the academic with the practical and hands-on, and all papers and presentations will subsequently be published.

If anyone is interested in attending, please email me; I can testify that hospitality at the Law School is of the highest order.