Strategic Advice
for Executives

2019.11.13 "Law Department Leaders Bracing for Recession" reports that 76% of chief legal officers expect a recession within two years, and that they are preparing "by cutting back on internal hiring and what they spend on outside counsel."  A reduced spend for BigLaw will be a domino that inevitably leads to downsizings aimed at service partners. That leads to the next blog . . . 

2019.10.03 "Memo to Exiting Lawyers: You’re Not Part of the Firm’s Strategy" - Look in the mirror for the best insight from this blog because it is individual partners (and other senior lawyers) who should develop a personal strategy the moment they fall out of step with their firm's billable hour or rainmaking expectations. 

2019.11.21  Moving Bonus Goalposts.  Law360's article titled "Aramark Nears Deal To End Suit Over Manager Bonuses" reports that a settlement is expected for class action litigation that had its roots in discontent described in the Philadelphia Inquirer's article titled ‘Moving the goal post’: Why thousands of Aramark managers didn’t get their 2018 bonuses." (2019.02.13)  

2019.10.23 "Bonus entitlement on basis of reasonable expectation" from Fasken Law includes the following discussion regarding the severance pay considerations that arise from bonus expectations:

• The British Columbia Supreme Court recently found that an employer's refusal to pay a discretionary bonus can lead to a finding that the employer breached the employee's contractual rights where, over the course of their employment, the employee receives the bonus in a way which leads them to believe that their employer's discretion to provide the bonus will continue to be exercised in their favour.

2019.11.22  LexisNexis made this article a featured one - published in two parts - because it provides insights about the full range of employment terms -- from both the employer perspective and that of individual executives. It is an excellent guide for determining reasonable "asks" as well as provisions to seek or to question.