The Aspiring Lateral: The Culture Question

The recruiting process is rife with talk about law firm culture. This is why you should care about it.

Ed. note: The Aspiring Lateral, a new series from Levenfeld Pearlstein, will analyze a variety of issues surrounding lateral moves, drawing on the firm’s experience in the lateral market as well as the individual experiences of LP attorneys. Today’s post is written by the firm’s chairman, Bryan Schwartz.

I spent all of July on sabbatical from the law. I didn’t field a single work-related email, or phone call, or even check the news. For an entire month, I focused on fly-fishing, golf, and family. I focused on myself.

Now, I don’t say all that to make anyone jealous. (If I were going to do that, I would have mentioned my week in Punta Cana.) I say that because, as I sit down to write about how law firm “culture” should impact lateral decision making, I keep coming back to my sabbatical. I was as unplugged from legal practice as I’ve been in years — okay, decades — but it told me more about culture than any month in the office.

As anyone who has been through it knows, the recruiting process is rife with talk about law firm culture. Interviews that pass without glowing reference to a firm’s “collegial culture” are as rare as sightings of the Dodo bird. But let’s face it: some minimum amount of camaraderie among peers is a pretty low bar to meet.

The cultural questions that should concern laterals most do not have to do with the frequency of happy hours, the annual barbeque, or the degree of a partnership’s collective inebriation at the holiday party. Instead, the most important question of culture is this: does this firm have a motivating purpose beyond the production of income for its individual lawyers?

If it doesn’t, the firm does not have a culture at all. It is a series of offices, which exist to house individual lawyers while they bill time. That is all some people want in a firm, but I think those people are rare, and I think they could certainly have more fulfilling careers.

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If a firm does have a larger motivation — if its lawyers are dedicated to making themselves and each other better — it will be reflected not only in events and traditions, but everyday operations. How do partners share origination credits? Is business landed by teams or individuals? Is marketing geared toward individuals or strategic goals of the firm? Questions like these will slowly reveal whether a firm has a culture that fosters a team orientation, or is merely a glorified office-sharing arrangement. And while the questions above go largely toward compensation, which tells a lot about a firm, other operational matters — such as the attention a firm pays to long-term planning or lawyer training — can also reveal a lot about its culture, or lack thereof.

Here are some other issues to ask about, which may not be immediately apparent as “cultural” indicators:

  • How much debt does the firm have? Professional service firms have no inherent need to take on big amounts of debt. So, while a limited amount of debt to cover, for instance, equipment purchases is understandable, large and growing levels of debt indicate a short-term, bottom-line-oriented mindset that does not speak well of a firm’s culture.
  • To what degree are practices siloed? Just as a firm cannot have an identifiable culture if its individual lawyers are working on their own islands, the same principle applies at the practice group level. Beware of joining practice groups that are fiefdoms with minimal attachments to the larger firm.
  • Am I getting a consistent message about this firm? Culture starts at the top of any law firm, but when instilled spreads throughout the organization. If you are hearing consistent messages about life at firm, its culture is probably thriving.
  • What is the experience of recent laterals? Firms with strong cultures tend to be very adept at integrating good lateral candidates (and, conversely, weeding out any bad fits). If recent laterals feel like they’ve been made a part of the firm, take it as a good sign about the strength of the firm’s culture.

All of these lessons hit home to me as I prepared for my sabbatical in July. I found it easy to trust others with my client responsibilities, and I found it easy to let go of the idea that I — as opposed to our team — was indispensable to my clients. Those feelings are the product of a well-established culture. So too was the reaction of my colleagues, who gave me nothing but encouragement to take a restorative break.

They weren’t jealous at all. Although they might be, just a little, when I show them pictures from Punta Cana.

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Disclosure: This series is sponsored by Levenfeld Pearlstein, which is an ATL advertiser.


Chicago-based Levenfeld Pearlstein (LP) was born of the desire to create a different kind of law firm. While many firms promote a “value proposition” of high quality work, responsiveness, efficiency and reasonable fees, to LP, those are just the basics of doing good work for clients. LP’s focus is building business relationships with clients as trusted strategic advisors who understand their clients’ business and industry inside and out, seeking legal solutions that support the client’s long-term business strategy as well as short-term needs. LP’s top talent and entrepreneurial setting translate into the sophisticated skills and resources of a big law firm in a more manageable environment.