Top-Notch, Collegial Firm? 3 Questions To Ask
Biglaw partner turned in-house lawyer Mark Herrmann provides a way to assess whether your firm truly consists of high-quality lawyers who work together collegially.
I know, I know; two things make your firm unique: The unparalleled quality of your lawyers and your extraordinarily collegial working environment.
Unlike the punk in “Dirty Harry” (who had to ask himself only one question), you should ask yourself three questions to assess whether your firm truly consists of high-quality lawyers who work together collegially.
First question: Do lawyers freely share work across offices or practice groups?
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I understand that everyone says that they share work generously: “It’s ‘one for all and all for one’ at our firm, by God.” (See how gracefully we moved from Dirty Harry to d’Artagnan? Who knew that Above the Law was a cultural smorgasbord?)
The question, of course, isn’t what people say, but what they actually do.
Imagine this scenario. It’s a conversation between partners at a single big firm. Maybe I lived this incident; maybe I heard about it from someone else; maybe I dreamed it. The choice is yours:
Him: “The head of our office, Smitty, just got called about a possible new case here in Denver. I heard you handled a similar case recently. Is that right?”
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You: “Unbelievable! We just won a virtually identical case on summary judgment. It’s a pretty complicated area of law. How can I help?”
“Let’s figure out how we can share what you know.”
“The associate who worked on the case with me was Athos. He and I are the two with real knowledge.”
“Can you send us the key briefs?”
“Of course. If we’re in a beauty contest, I’d be happy to attend. In fact, if I weren’t so terribly jammed up with other stuff, I’d offer to handle this case myself, but I really don’t have time.”
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“Oh, don’t worry about that. Smitty wouldn’t want these hours leaving the Denver office. He won’t want you at the beauty contest, and he certainly won’t want the work done by lawyers who aren’t in Denver.”
Smitty may well say that he shares work freely, because that’s what the folks on the Compensation Committee expect him to say. But the question is not what people say; it’s what they do. Are your colleagues in fact sharing work freely? If not, your firm is not yet a well-oiled machine.
Second question:
Unconstrained by institutional loyalty, would you really choose to use your partners for the matters you’re now referring to them?
Here’s something else I dreamed (or heard about, or lived):
You: “We’re defending 30 related cases all across the country. The client just got hit with a new one in Phoenix. Who should we use in Phoenix?”
Her: “You must be kidding. We have an office there! We’ll use one of our Phoenix litigation partners, of course.”
“Have you ever worked with those guys? I did a case with Porthos last year, and he has the IQ of a grapefruit. We can’t use him.”
“You have to. There’s no way we could explain to the boys who run this firm that we landed a case in Phoenix and didn’t use the Phoenix office. Just grin and bear it.”
I know that you refer matters to your partners; you do, after all, have an economic interest in your firm, and you’re under extraordinary institutional pressure. But the question is not what you’re obligated to do; it’s what you’d do unconstrained by institutional loyalty. Think about it.
Finally, the third question:
What do your colleagues say about lawyers who left your partnership to join another law firm?
On the one hand, people may act like people: “Aramis was a good guy and a good lawyer. I’m really sorry to see him go. But did you hear about the opportunity that Bigg & Mediocre offered him? He would have been nuts to stay here. I sure hope he succeeds in his new position.”
On the other hand, lawyers may act like lawyers: “Aramis? I always knew he was a no-good bum. I’m delighted to see him leave. His lateral move raises the average IQ both at our firm (because he’s leaving) and at Bigg & Mediocre (where he landed). Good riddance.”
If lawyers are acting like lawyers, then Aramis’s close friends are probably whispering behind closed doors: “Did you hear what our partners are saying about Aramis? Shoot! I remember the old days, back when everyone thought Aramis was a good lawyer.”
I know that you’re obligated to believe that your firm is the best on earth, populated with the 500 finest partners, and 2,500 finest associates, on the planet. What a wonderful coincidence that they all landed here!
But, when you’re being honest with yourself, do you really see the collegiality and quality about which you spend your days boasting?
Mark Herrmann is Vice President and Deputy General Counsel – Litigation and Employment at Aon, the world’s leading provider of risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, and human capital and management consulting. He is the author of The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Practicing Law and Inside Straight: Advice About Lawyering, In-House And Out, That Only The Internet Could Provide (affiliate links). You can reach him by email at inhouse@abovethelaw.com.
