Heidi Gardner, a distinguished scholar at Harvard Law School Center on the Legal Profession, is researching collaboration among rainmakers. She says that the co-ordination costs of complicated projects include 'projects delayed due to incompatible schedules; cross-cultural or linguistic misunderstandings on cross-border work; technology failures causing missed deadlines' and - on international projects - the misunderstandings or other effects of different assumptions being made by different nationalities as regards the work or dealing with clients. 

Stressed leadership

According to Ms Gardner's research, both in-house lawyers and their external advisers recognise the link between complexity and higher fees. The most successful law firm partners are likely to work hard at fostering collaboration within their own teams - as this also pushes up the quality of the outcome. But there also appears to be a link between complexity and pressure. Ms Gardner says: 'But it’s no surprise: the bigger the account, the more stressful leading it becomes.' Source: Bloomberg Business of Law