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JOE WALKER
Partner
Joe Walker recently joined Smock•Sterling Strategic Management Consultants as a Partner. He has over 40 years of legal and business experience. In the law firm setting, he has been a Practice Group Leader, Member of the Board of Directors, and Managing Partner. Before joining Smock Sterling, he was General Counsel, and then President of an International Division for a major automotive supplier. His primary consulting focus is strategic planning management and execution, especially continued guidance and counsel to achieve strategic goals/objectives.
Some examples of Joe’s law firm management experience include:
- As Managing Partner, leading the development of a strategic plan for a major law firm, which led to a state-wide then regional presence while doubling the number of lawyers, offices, revenue and profit.
- Authoring a succession plan and transfer of ownership from the founding members of the firm to the next generation.
- Creating multiple partner and associate compensation structures and performance management processes.
- Organizing and re-organizing practice groups to take advantage of market opportunities, develop new leaders and grow revenue.
- Developing an internationally recognized quality improvement program for law firms.
- Successfully completing and integrating five law firm mergers.
- Co-developing the governance, growth and marketing plan for a law firm network first domestically and then internationally.
As General Counsel, Joe reorganized a law department, installed processes and outside counsel management programs for a portfolio company. He also heavily participated in the company’s strategic planning process, and then assumed responsibility for the company, ultimately returning it to profitability within 18 months. He is a co-author of Leading a Motown Turnaround …How a 130 Year Old Company Became New Again, a book chronicling the turnaround effort.
Joe is a frequent speaker on the subjects of Law Firm Management, Leadership and Leadership Development, Team-Building, Quality, Ethics, Legal Malpractice, and Trial Advocacy. He has a B.S. in Political Science from Xavier University and a J.D. from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law.
Some of Joe’s current and past memberships are:
- Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management
- ALFA International – former Vice Chairman – Board of Directors
- International Association of Defense Counsel – Faculty Member – Annual Trial Academy
- Defense Research Institute – Former Chair – Management of Law Practice Committee
- Association of Corporate Counsel – Former member of the Board
- State Bar of Michigan – Former Chairman – Standing Committee on Establishing Law Practices
- Fellow of the American Bar Association Foundation
- Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association – President, 1999-2000
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