This month, Lawyerlinq founder Marijn Rooijmans writes in his column on Advocatie.nl (in Dutch) about law firms that lack a clear focus.

You’ll know the type: firms that want to be everything to everyone. They look the part – slick office, smart people, ticking the right boxes, polished pitch decks, decent turnover. But under the bonnet? Nothing. No sharp choices, no direction, no vision. Just a handful of partners keeping it afloat through personal goodwill.

Now, you might ask, is that a real problem? Maybe not, if everyone at the firm is happy with the status quo. The issue only arises when we start talking about the future.

That strategic emptiness behind the glossy exterior is exactly what a recent study from Harvard Law zooms in on. Well worth a read. Mariano Batalla reports on what drives law firm success in today’s shifting markets. He focused on top firms in Latin America. Sure, not quite the Zuidas – but the blind spots he exposes? I see those right here, too. Even among our pragmatic, Calvinist Dutch firms, there are partner groups who treat strategy as a once-a-year offsite exercise, only to ignore it the rest of the time.

Read on (in Dutch)