"Managing the Modern Law Firm," edited by Dr. Laura Empson

If you are fascinated as I am by the congeries of issues lying at the intersection of the "partnership ethos" and "corporate-like management," then you need to be familiar with the work of Dr. Laura Empson, as highlighted in Aric Press's recent "In-House" column for The American Lawyer.

Aric calls the just-released book which Laura edited, Managing the Modern Law Firm, a "valuable new collection of essays" that constitutes where "we all [should] start" in thinking about these issues. (Disclosure: I've met Laura and her publisher, Oxford University Press, sent me a reviewer's copy of the book.)

I just learned that Laura has moved from the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School, where she was Director of the Clifford Chance Centre for the Management of Professional Service Firms, to Cass Business School, in the City of London, where she has joined the Faculty of Management as Professor in the Management of Professional Service Firms.

Lest you fear that Laura's approach might be too "academic," you should know that she began her career as an investment banker in the City and experienced the Big Bang first-hand. If you suspect that might have given her a keen curiosity about, and perspective on, how global professional service firms respond to change, you're absolutely right.