Biglaw, Boutique Law Firms, Partner Issues, Small Law Firms

Beyond Biglaw: Matching Talent To Mission

As we approach the dog days of August, it's a good time to take stock of personal and firm progress so far in 2016.

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Blank Lawyer Type Sign or Shingle.As we approach the dog days of August, it’s a good time to take stock of personal and firm progress so far in 2016. Of course, readers of this column know that I am a cheerleader for taking stock as frequently as possible (as long as the process is not too distracting, and is performed with an aim towards shaping future performance based on lessons learned from the past). The more critical your role is at your firm, the more likely that you will be asked to evaluate both your performance and that of others on a more frequent basis. With August’s slower rhythms, however, almost everyone will have a chance to unwind and actually think about where they are career-wise, no matter how senior or junior they are.

When it comes to frequency, a good rule of thumb is that an associate should probably take a look at how their career is unfolding at least every six months. There are at least two parts to the analysis. First, the associate needs to consider how well they are performing relative to their personal career “mission” — that is, how their personal progress towards their career goals is going. Second, the associate needs to evaluate, from the perspective of an army private, how well the firm is performing relative to its mission. The smarter and more attuned the associate, the more granular their analysis will be. But at minimum, associates should not let a year, or even two, go by without stopping their legal research and drafting efforts long enough to pay a little attention to their own progress.

For partners, and in particular your average partner (whose main job it is to bill hours and originate client work), I believe that every three months is a good timeframe for analyzing personal and firm performance. Most well-run law firms will expect their partners to prepare business plans broken up into quarters, and at smaller shops, it is normal for the entire partnership to meet on at least a quarterly basis. In addition to the considerations that I discussed above as part of an associate’s review, partners also need to spend time considering how their marketing efforts are going, and what the firm expects from them in the near-term performance wise. Of course, in today’s environment, it feels like the average partner (especially in Biglaw) is being forced into thinking about their practice in a way more akin to small-firm partners — where the first priority is short-term performance to pay the bills, followed by the luxury of longer-term thinking.

The timeframe is even more compressed for firm leaders, which encompasses anyone with administrative roles at larger law firms (such as a practice group leader), or your average partner at a smaller law firm. These partners are better thought as the actual (or at least equivalent to) business owners, and the health of the business, as well as the contribution of the key personnel, requires analysis on at least a monthly basis. In addition to all the issues that regular partners and associates need to think on, firm leaders must also make sure that the firm is being run in a financially responsible way, and that the administrative staff is performing as needed — in other words, addressing on a monthly basis whether the household budget in order.

Even more difficult, however, is the challenge of firm leadership to set, or as time goes by, reorient, the firm’s mission. Some firms point to their culture as emblematic of the firm’s mission, others to their performance, and yet others to their values. No matter how a firm defines its mission, which is not an easy task in this competitive industry marked by lawyer lateral movement and at times fickle clients, leadership also needs to pay attention to whether the current mix of talent at the firm is equipped to carry out the mission. We are not talking about aimless firms here but ones where the objectives are clear-cut, and the firm is in a position to brutally address whether the talent on hand needs cultivation, replacement, or supplementation in the form of new bodies.

A great articulation of what I am referring to comes from Earnie Stewart, the former soccer star who played for both the U.S. National Team and numerous famous soccer clubs in the world’s top leagues. Stewart is now an executive in Major League Soccer, having won some renown for his management skills while at the helm of a number of foreign clubs. In a recent podcast, he described the challenge of starting an executive position in a new league, and in particular for a club that had been in last place during the prior season. For him, there were two immediate steps that needed attention from the get-go. First, that the club define its mission, ideally one that was compatible with the spirit of its home city and ambition. Second, that the analysis then immediately turn towards evaluation of whether the club’s talent is prepared to meet that mission.

We can talk another time about the similarities between club soccer and the law firm world. For now, it is enough for us to realize that strong firms, and strong firm leaders, know how important it is to have a current, vibrant mission for the firm, and the talent to see that mission through. Whether the mission is set as a result of new leadership, or just a fresh take based on the firm’s current market position, a realistic mission is a necessary element of law firms of all sizes.

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Ultimately, each one of us can only hope that our firm’s talent meets the firm’s mission — and that our personal talent contributes to the successful performance of the firm’s mission as well. At smaller firms, it is absolutely essential that everyone understand the firm’s mission, and the importance of finding the right talent to meet that mission can’t be overstated. As the dog days approach, they bring with them a prime opportunity to consider how matching talent to mission can contribute to future success.

Please feel free to send comments or questions to me at gkroub@kskiplaw.com or via Twitter: @gkroub. Any topic suggestions or thoughts are most welcome.

Gaston Kroub lives in Brooklyn and is a founding partner of Kroub, Silbersher & Kolmykov PLLC, an intellectual property litigation boutique. The firm’s practice focuses on intellectual property litigation and related counseling, with a strong focus on patent matters. You can reach him at gkroub@kskiplaw.com or follow him on Twitter: @gkroub.

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