Joseph J. Morford

Speaking Engagements

• “Strategies for Inclusivity in an Uncertain Future,” Creating Equitable & Inclusive Workplaces in the Current Legal Landscape, Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association and The Law & Leadership Institute, Cleveland, Ohio (February 2025)
• “Raising the Bar CLE: Women’s Experience in Law,” Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association (December 2024)
• “The Quandary of the Challenging Partner,” 2024 PilotLegis Annual Member Conference, San Diego, California (November 2024)
• “Pulling It All Together: Growth Strategies that Link Economic Performance and Strategic Success in Challenging Economic Times,” Inside Practice (June 2023)
• “Maximizing Efficiency and Profitability in Mid-Sized Law Firms,” ARK National Summit, New York, New York (May 2023)
• “Into the Minds of National Legal Innovators,” Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association (December 2021)
• “How to Reward Law Firm Profitability … Particularly in a Non-Hourly Fee Environment,” Law Firm Compensation Strategy: A Virtual Think-Tank, Ark Group (January 2021)
• “Legal Disruptors: Ideas Shaking Up the Legal Industry,” Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association (December 2020)
• “Alternative Fee Arrangements: How Law Firm Structure Can Make or Break Them,” 2020 In-House Counsel Summit Webinar, Tucker Ellis LLP (October 2020)
• “A Candid Discussion About Alternative Fee Arrangements in a COVID-19 World,” Tucker Ellis Webinar (May 2020)
• “Finding the Win-Win in Alternative Fee Arrangements,” 2019 In-House Counsel Summit, Tucker Ellis LLP, Cleveland, Ohio (November 2019)
• “Mid-Sized Law Firms: Start the Revolution in the Middle,” Ark Group, Chicago, Illinois (May 2019)
• “Aligning Law Firm Compensation with Profitability,” Ark Group 8th Annual The Mechanics of Law Firm Profitability: People, Process & Technology, Chicago, Illinois (March 2019)
• “Law Firm Leaders Pursuing & Pioneering Change,” The Law Firm Innovation Summit, Suffolk University Law School, Boston, Massachusetts (November 2018)
• “Diversity: It’s Complicated,” Ark Group 11th Annual Women Legal 2018, San Francisco, California (February 2018)
• “Alternative Fee Arrangements,” 2017 In-House Counsel Summit, Tucker Ellis LLP, Cleveland, Ohio (October 2017)
• “Time to Better Serve Our Clients – An Open Discussion Between Law Firm and In-House Counsel,” Ark Group 2nd Annual Client Growth Strategies for Legal Services (November 2016)
• “Improving the Future of Legal Service & Practice for Women: How Men and Women Can Work Together to Change the Outdated Pyramid Structure in Law Firms,” Ark Group & Managing Partner’s East Coast Women Legal 2015 (May 2015)
• “Practice Innovation and the Profitability Equation: What is Invested in KM?,” Ark Group/Managing Partner 9th Annual Conference on Knowledge Management in the Legal Profession (October 2013)
• “Law Firm Pricing & Profitability,” Ark Group 2nd Annual Seminar (September 2013)
• “Emerging Trends in Buying Legal Services – Sourcing Legal Providers in a Changing Business Environment,” LegalVIEW Forum (July 2013)
• “Different and Better – One Law Firm’s Experience to Date,” Ark Group Seminar on the Future of the Legal Industry (October 2012)
• “Vastly Improving the Manner in which Legal Services are Provided,” presented to McMillan LLP (August 2012)
• “Alternative Fee Arrangements,” presented to MAPI Risk Counsel (May 2009)

Publications

• “Without the Rule of Law, Democracy Dies,” Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Journal (May/June 2025)
• “Distinguishing the Sophisticated User from the Sophisticated Intermediary Defense,” Inter Alia (February 2011)

Media Quotes

• “Tucker Ellis’s Next Managing Partner Focused on Growth, Maintaining Cleveland Roots,” Crain’s Cleveland Business (October 2025)
• “Trump RTO Mandates Won’t Disrupt Big Law Policies – But Client Expectations Might,” Law.com (January 2025)
• “‘Fake Partners’: These Holdout Law Firms Are Sticking With Single-Tier Partnerships,” The American Lawyer (July 2024)
• “Region’s Law Firms See Trends Toward Higher Revenues, More Flexibility Continuing in 2022,” Crain’s Cleveland Business (January 2022)
• “Facing Economic Uncertainties, Law Firms Claim Several Millions of Dollars in PPP Funds,” Crain’s Cleveland Business (July 2020)
• “What GCs Want From Outside Counsel As Virus Rages On,” Law360 (May 2020)
• “Cutting Legal Aid is Major Concern in NEO,” Crain’s Cleveland Business (April 2017)
• “Do Big Law Firms Have Too Many Committees?“, Bloomberg Law (August 2016)
• “The Evolution of Local Law Firms,” Crain’s Cleveland Business (November 2015)
• “Employees Want to Be Part of Something Meaningful: Top Workplaces 2015,” The Plain Dealer (June 2015)
• “Newcomers to the 350,” The National Law Journal (June 2013)
• “10 Years Later: A Look Back and Ahead a Decade after the ABA Commission on Billable Hours Report,” Legal Management (October/November 2012)