Welcome back. With the holiday season behind us, and a bright new year ahead, it is a good time to reflect on the importance of tradition in our social and professional lives. It is a safe bet that over the last few weeks we have all partaken in certain time-honored traditions, whether they be of a secular or religious nature. As human beings, our respective traditions help provide us with our identity, and a sense of belonging to something greater than ourselves. Traditions help bind families and communities together, and are the source of many of our most distinct memories of times past.
Just as traditions are an important contributor to the social glue that binds families and communities together, so too are traditions important for law firms — especially for smaller firms, which operate on many levels as professional families, due in no small part to the shared sacrifice and effort that goes into operating a successful small firm. Even larger firms can have traditions, but interestingly it seems like many of the famous Biglaw traditions (e.g., the Cravath partner funeral march, for a macabre example) are either limited to a small segment of the firm, or have fallen by the wayside in this age of mergers and ever-shifting Biglaw brand identities. For smaller firms, especially younger ones, developing and sustaining traditions can be a formative experience, and help cement a feeling of collaboration and shared focus amongst the firm’s lawyers and employees.
An example from my own firm is illustrative. Our firm celebrates its yearly anniversary on December 1, when we first opened our doors. Every year, since we started in 2013, we go out for an all-firm dinner (all four of us, but who knows whether 2017 may be the year we decide to expand further) at a local steakhouse. The same restaurant is one of our most frequent haunts for business lunches, but the anniversary dinner tends to have a different feel. Dinner tends to start early, and has always been a great shared time, topping off another year of our firm’s existence.
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At once both celebratory and reflective, the anniversary has quickly become our firm’s most important tradition, one that we hope will continue for a long time. Sitting at the same restaurant, at the same table, with the same partners, seems an appropriate way to mark our anniversary, and with each passing year the tradition becomes a stronger one. As do the personal and social traditions that we all continuously elect to preserve over time in every aspect of our lives.
But in order for a tradition to endure, it must be tied to a set of values or shared experiences worth being recalled and reinvigorated over time. Put another way, the binding effects of tradition will have no impact on people that have already decided that they do not want to share any more bonds, because they have different sets of values, or have simply moved on in a different direction. Obviously, it is hard to run a successful law firm composed of people at odds with each other, especially when it comes to what should be a shared set of values.
Because values are so central to perpetuating traditions, it is therefore important that observance of any tradition, especially in a professional context, include an express declaration of why the tradition being observed should be important one to those participating. Additionally, a reaffirmation of the values underlying the tradition is also important. No one is saying to interrupt dinner with a twenty-minute polemic on virtue, but better to say something about values than nothing at all. Empty observance of traditions never lasts long. Everyone tends to find something better to do.
Done right, traditions help cement a firm’s professional identity, even if only for the lawyers and staff who work there. If there is a firm tradition that incorporates clients as well, all the better. Again, the key is that the tradition be anchored in the firm’s values, or center on advancing core relationships that define the firm’s ethos. Nothing against holiday parties, but when I speak about a firm tradition, I am really referring to events or behaviors that are tied to a particular firm value or practice. Most firms that have traditions, as opposed to just perennial celebrations like holiday parties, are able to articulate why those traditions are valuable. That is a good litmus test to apply to your own personal and professional traditions.
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What if your firm does not really have any traditions? That is not necessarily a problem, since worthwhile traditions can take some time to develop. There is little to gain from copying the traditions of others. Better to wait for firm traditions to develop organically, in line with the values of the firm and its composition of lawyers and staff. Keep in mind as well that no tradition is necessarily forever. Ultimately, even the most hallowed tradition will eventually need to adapt as time passes, so maintaining a sense of flexibility — even about cherished traditions — is advisable. Traditions are important, but the ability to adapt without sacrificing values is timeless. Best wishes for a healthy, productive, and successful 2017 to all.
Please feel free to send comments or questions to me at [email protected] 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 [email protected] or follow him on Twitter: @gkroub.