FutureFirm 1.0

April 18-19, 2009
Indiana University Maurer School of Law

The large U.S. law firm is under tremendous pressure from clients, associates, and the competition for -- and sometimes among -- partners. These pressures are exacerbated by a business model that has remained essentially unchanged for nearly 100 years. Is it possible for large corporate firms to thrive without rethinking their business model? The organizers of FutureFirm want to find out.

FutureFirm is a game of strategy, skill, and endurance. The goal of the game is to craft a new law firm business model that is likely to survive and thrive 20 years into the future. The event will include ten teams of four players each, representing in-house lawyers/general counsel, law firm partners and managers, or associates/law students. Winners will be named by a 12 to 15-person Judging Panel. Hildebrandt is a generous sponsor of FutureFirm 1.0, donating prize monies for the winning team(s) as well as the valuable services of its legal consultants.

FutureFirm Rules and Problem

More Resources for the Game

End of the Road for the Cravath Model? ABA Journal (Nov. 2008)
The Elastic Tournament: A Second Transformation of the Big Law Firm, 60 Stanford Law Review 1867 (2008).
Young Associates in Trouble, 105 Michigan Law Review 1087 (2007).
An Empirical Study of Single-Tier Versus Two-Tier Partnerships in the Am Law 200, 84 North Carolina Law Review 1691 (2006).
Are We Selling Results or Resumes? The Underexplored Linkage between Human Resource Strategies and Firm-Specific Capital, Indiana Legal Studies Research Paper No. 105 (2009)

Conference Schedule

Friday, April 17, 2009
7:00 pm	Casual dinner with a presentation by Bill Henderson Michael’s Uptown Café
Saturday, April 18, 2009
8 - 8:30 am 1st Floor Lobby	Breakfast Selections
8:30 - 9 Moot Court Room	Welcome and Instructions
9 - 10:30 Moot Court Room	Baseline Workshop (Judges only)
9 - 1 pm 214, 215, 216, 335	Team Retreat
10 - 11 1st floor lobby	Refreshment available
11 - 1 pm Moot Court Room	Judges' Retreat
1 - 2:15 Faculty Lounge	Lunch
2:15 - 3:45 pm 214, 215, 216, 335	Team preparation for final presentations
2:45 - 3:45 pm Moot Court Room	Judges’ preparation of judging parameters and Sunday comments
3:45 - 4 1st floor lobby	Refreshment break
4 - 6 Moot Court Room	Final Team Presentations
6:10 1st floor lobby	Meet to walk to IMU (optional)
6:15 - 7	Cocktail Reception Indiana Memorial Union (IMU) Federal Room Parlor
7 - 9	Working Dinner IMU Federal Room
Sunday, April 19, 2009
8 am	Coffee and pastries available IMU Frangipani Room
9 - 10:30	Team Rejoinders and Judges' Commentary IMU Frangipani Room
10:30 - 11:30	Brunch (team members) IMU Coronation Room
10:30 - 11:30	Brunch (judges deliberate) IMU Georgian Room
11:30am	Announcement of Winners IMU Frangipani Room

Participants

Hildebrandt Consultants

Joe Altonji
Mike Short
Carla Landry
John Childers

Judging Panel

Anthony E. Davis: Partner
Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP
Gillian Hadfield: Richard L. and Antoinette S. Kirtland Professor of Law and Professor of Economics
University of Southern California Gould School of Law
Pamela Jarvis: Gregory P Joseph Law Offices LLC
Kimberly Kirkland: Professor of Law
Franklin Pierce Law Center
Jeffrey T. Kraus: Vice President and Loss Prevention Counsel
ALAS, Inc.
Peter Krupp: Partner, Skadden, Arps
Paul Lippe: Founder & CEO
Legal OnRamp
Paul McDonald: Senior Counsel
Kraft, Inc.
Casey Plant: Indiana University Maurer School of Law
Mitt Regan: Professor of Law
Georgetown Law Center
Lauren Stiller Rikleen: Partner
Bowditch & Dewey, LLP
Executive Director, Bowditch Institute for Women's Success
Mike Roster: Chair, ACC Value Challenge
Former General Counsel
Stanford University
Milt Stewart: Partner
Davis Wright Tremaine

Clients

Stephanie Bisselberg: Labor Counsel, AK Steel Corporation
Allyson Bouldon: President-Elect, Association of Corporate Counsel - Chicago
Former General Counsel, Tegrant Corporation
Heath Dixon: Attorney, Legal Affairs, Electronic Data Systems Corp.
W. Brian Edge: Director, Legal Affairs, Discovery Communications
Scott Flanders: CEO, Freedom Communications
Steve Harmon: Director, Legal Services, Cisco
Wayne Harris: President
Association of Corporate Counsel - Indianapolis
Chief Counsel, Ace Power Marketing
Brendan Healey: Senior Counsel, Tribune Corp.
Bill Hunt: Principal, Hunt Capital Partners, LLC
Patrick McGowan: Corporate Internal Audit - Compliance, Pfizer
Bruce Melton: Associate General Counsel, University of Chicago
Bruce Rasche: Deputy General Counsel, FirstGroup America

Partners

Nicole Auerbach: Valorem Law Group
Bryan Babb: Bose, McKinney & Evans
David Baffa: Seyfarth Shaw LLP
John Chun: Summit Law Group
Steve Crawford: Frost Brown Todd
Patricia Gillette: Orrick
Darrick Hooker: Jenner & Block
Joe Humke: Lindquist & Vennum
Marty Klaper: Ice Miller (retired)
Patrick Lamb: Valorem Law Group
Sonia Miller-Van Oort: Flynn Gaskins & Bennett, LLP
Chad Mitchell: Summit Law Group
Ameek Ponda: Sullivan & Worcester
Edwin Reeser: Edwin B. Reeser PC
Former Managing Partner
Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP
Jackie Simmons: Baker & Daniels LLP
John Steele: Principal, Steele Law
Former Special Counsel and Director of Ethics & Conflicts, Fish & Richardson
Former Partner, Fenwick & West

Associates and Students

Khalil AbuGharbieh: University of California Boalt Hall
Brigette Brennan: University of Southern California Gould School of Law
Katherine Jones: University of Southern California Gould School of Law
Lutfi Kharuf: University of Southern California Gould School of Law
Tonio DeSorrento: Orrick
Ross Eberly: Indiana University Maurer School of Law
Mark Horvick: Kirkland & Ellis
Anna T. Mayer: Jones Day
Matt Scherer-Smith: Georgetown Law Center
Megan Vetula: Georgetown Law Center
Joe Williams: Columbia University Law School
Corey Zarse: Vedder Price