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White & Case: no loitering

@ Ben, @BVI, I don't think the debate over which model to adopt is the biggest issue here. The model is simply a means to an end. (Actually, Peter Martyr's developed a succinct response to anyone raising the Verein topic. He simply says: "Yawn".) Still, the Verein has enabled a small group of internationalist firms to seize market share in a way that some integrated partnerships simply have not. The debate over its value is rooted less in organisational efficiency and more in cultural presumptions of what such a model entails. For the record, I'm an agnostic on the Verein or any other model; firms adopt a Verein into an existing culture rather than the other way around. You can have an unintegrated firm operating a traditional partnership structure, which was the case at W&C before its conversion to sector-led/regional approach. But it's unarguable that W&C has been slower in expanding its global revenues compared to its peers. The point about Cleary - and apologies if this was ambiguously written - was that White & Case may have more to learn from less conservative organisations than from the transatlantic elite.

18-Oct-2011

2:18 pm