2021 speakers

A lawyer and consultant to law firms on strategic and economic issues, Bruce has become a recognized leader in the industry. He founded Adam Smith, Esq. in 2002, and has published nearly 2,000 articles probing such topics as strategic prioritization of practice areas and office footprint, globalization, leadership, finance, mergers and acquisitions, and partnership structures. He is a sought-after speaker and frequently appears at law firm retreats and legal industry conferences in the United States and around the world

Bruce has written for or been quoted in: The Wall Street Journal; The New York Times;  The Financial Times, The Washington Post: Bloomberg; The American Lawyer; LegalBusiness, and in many other media. Bruce is also the author of Growth Is Dead: Now What? (2013); A New Taxonomy: The seven law firm business models (2014); and Tomorrowland: Scenarios for law firms beyond the horizon (2017).  Tomorrowland, especially, has gained a worldwide audience, in North and South America (where the Spanish language version, Mundos del Manana, was released in early 2018), the UK and Europe, the Middle East and Asia.  “Must reading for every law firm managing partner, for every law firm partner, and for anyone interested in the future of Big Law. Extraordinarily well done and insightful; audacious and courageous. A tour de force.”—Brad Karp, Chair of the Firm, Paul Weiss.

Before founding Adam Smith, Esq., Bruce:

• Practiced securities and corporate law with Breed, Abbott & Morgan and with Shea & Gould in New York; and
• Was an inhouse securities lawyer with Morgan Stanley/Dean Witter on Wall Street for a decade.

Bruce was educated at Princeton University (BA magna cum laude in economics) and at Stanford Law School (JD).  He also completed the MBA coursework at NYU’s Stern School of Business (evening program) while at Morgan Stanley.

A native Manhattanite, he lives with his wife and their dog on New York’s Upper West Side, where he has chaired the Finance Committee and served on the Vestry of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church.