54.3 F
San Diego
Thursday, Mar 28, 2024
-Advertisement-

Legal Community Learns Lessons of Lean Operations

If you aren’t convinced of the notion that businesses need to be agile and move quickly to adapt to a more segmented and specialized world, look no further than the fate of the iconic law firm Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps.

Three years ago the Luce Forward nameplate was taken off the front door following its merger with national firm McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP. Last month’s merger of McKenna Long and Dentons US LLP further distanced San Diego from its sentimental legal roots. The new firm, which goes by Dentons in the U.S. and Dacheng in Asia, is the largest in the world with about 6,600 attorneys.

Moses A. Luce founded San Diego’s first law firm in 1873. Following a merger with Charles H. Forward in 1929, the firm Luce Forward grew to be one of California’s most successful. Luce Forward employed about 160 attorneys in San Diego at its peak. Since then, through the recession and new paradigms of scale, efficiencies and specialties — and almost five years of talks and mergers — nostalgia has taken a beating. Dentons lists 46 professionals on its San Diego website.

“This is about us becoming more like our clients,” said Kurt Kicklighter, partner/office managing partner of Dentons’ San Diego office. “We need to offer deeper substance and broader geographic reach for our clients. We can no longer do everything for everyone.”

What does that look like in the marketplace? Kicklighter, who began practicing law in this market 30 years ago and joined Luce Forward in 2000, describes it as having the right people in the right place when clients need it. He relayed how earlier in the day he had used Dentons’ resources to connect a San Diego entrepreneur from a small startup with experts in Europe.

“It’s not how big you are,” said Jeff Haidet, U.S. co-CEO for Dentons. “Firms still need to go deep in their communities.”

• • •

Beth Keser of San Diego was one five winners in “The Next MacGyver” competition, which was created to introduce a new iconic TV series starring a female engineer. Keser, who has a Ph.D. in engineering and is a principal engineer at Qualcomm, will be mentored by Hollywood TV producers in developing a pilot script.

“MacGyver,” was a TV show from 1985-1992 starring Richard Dean Anderson as a cool, but peaceful secret agent known for his improvised solutions with a Swiss Army Knife and other common items.

Keser ideally would like to see her lead character played by “a Claire Danes or Natalie Portman type; strong, smart and independent.”

Editor-in-Chief Nels Jensen can be reached via njensen@sdbj.com or 858-277-6897.

-Advertisement-

Featured Articles

SDBJ Insider

SDBJ Insider

SDBJ Insider

-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-

Related Articles

-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-