 
Our
monographs provide you with a glimpse
at our thinking.
Please click on each title below
to view the monograph:
  "No Chicken Little, The Sky is Not Falling"
John S. Smock, John W. Sterling and Peter A. Giuliani
A few weeks ago, John Smock met with a client of Smock Sterling’s regarding that client’s performance as part of a merger that occurred last year. In discussing the fact that the merger was going very well, the client pointed out that he had recently attended a presentation in which another law firm consulting firm described the present and future of the legal marketplace in very clear “doom and gloom” terms.
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"Strategies in the War for Talent – Recruiting, Developing and Retaining Great People"
John W. Sterling
It has become cliché to say that a law firm’s most important assets walk out the door every night. Yet, getting, developing and keeping great people must be at the center of virtually every firm’s strategy. Having high quality people is fundamental and it is what is driving the so-called “war for talent.”.
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"The legal marketplace in 2008—time for the industry to jump out of the sauce pan"
John S. Smock, John W. Sterling and Peter A. Giuliani
Each year, as close as possible to its beginning, SmockSterling Strategic Management Consultants assesses the legal marketplace, identifies issues, and proposes solutions to those issues. We are not alone in doing this, but have tried to be both creative and original in figuring out ways to get the message across to our clients and friends in that legal marketplace.
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"The seven deadly sins of law firm mergers and combinations"
By John S. Smock
Dante Alighieri’s epic poem The Divine Comedy (and earlier theological/biblical references) listed the seven deadly sins of pride, envy, anger, sloth, greed, gluttony, and lust. In coming across this listing while doing some recent research, I clearly had an “I could have had a V-8” experience. These seven deadly sins – with a little bit of adjustment and redefinition – can clearly illustrate the problems many law firm managements have in successfully carrying out meaningful mergers and combinations. Thus, the following offers our take on these seven deadly sins of law firm mergers and combinations and what a firm interested in strategically growing can do about them.
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"Unlocking value and performance through better practice group management
"
By John W. Sterling
Over the past ten years, nearly every law firm of reasonable size has adopted some form of practice group organization. Some have adopted the concept with relish and have driven management responsibility and authority into the hands of practice group leaders. Others have been more tentative, organizing into groups, but asking and/or expecting relatively little from both the groups and their leaders.
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The Legal Marketplace in 2007 - Rip Van Winkle Would Not Recognize It
By John S. Smock, John W. Sterling, and Peter A. Giuliani
Smock Sterling Strategic Management Consultants takes a step back once a year to assess the legal marketplace (where we spend close to 75% of our time) – the status, the trends, and what our clients (and, for that matter, all firms) need to do to survive and prosper.
Read More... Not Measured, Not Managed: Using the Balanced Scorecard in a Sophisticated Law Firm
By
John W. Sterling
It has been over 10 years since Robert Kaplan and David Norton published their landmark business treatise, The Balanced Scorecard. The concept of a balanced scorecard is now so entrenched in the field of strategic management that application of balanced scorecards is literally “old news” to strategists. At Strategy & Leadership – a leading strategic management journal – case studies and other articles related to the balanced scorecard draw yawns from peer reviewers.
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More...
What's
Happening Out There? The State
of Legal Management in 2005
By
Peter A. Giuliani, John S. Smock,
John W. Sterling
This is Smock Sterling
Strategic Management Consultants
annual assessment of the state of
the legal management marketplace.
It covers the state of the market,
trends, and what the winners will
do.
OVERALL STATE
OF THE LEGAL MANAGEMENT
If there were
some official authorized to make
a “state of the legal industry”
address, similar to the U.S. President’s
State of the Union address, his/her
prognosis would be quite positive.
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More...
Recent Monographs
Over
the Top — Law Firm Strategic
Planning Excesses and Mistakes in
2003
Confessions
of a Law Firm Management Consultant
– My Twenty Years Before the
Mast
Effective
Marketing, Not Branding, Is the
Key to Growing Work for Existing
Clients and Attracting New Clients
Dispatches
From the Merger Front
Law
Firm Management Issues on the Cusp
of 2003
The
Evolution of Law Firm Strategic
Planning: Darwin Would Have Been
Proud
Law
Firm Management in 2002
FOCUS
– Strategy Planning Using Our
Industry-Leading Methodology
Our
Services to Law Firms
Strategic
Planning in Law Firms – From
“Nice to Do” to “Essential
for Future Success"
The
Four Stages of a Successful Law
Firm Merger
To
Merger or Not to Merge – That
is the Question
The
Seven Deadly Sins of Law Firm Management
in the New Millennium
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