Two weeks ago, I wrote about skills testing that could be applicable to new or existing employees at law firms. The feedback I received on that column suggests at least two things to me. First, there is some discontent with the way law firms manage new hires, an observation that will probably not be a surprise to readers. Second, there is a hunger for battle-tested yet innovative ways of making sure that law firm employees have the skills they need to succeed in the competitive environments they work in. Again, that won’t be a surprise to many. At the same time, whenever there is a dissatisfaction with the status quo, it behooves us to look for ways to improve as an industry. Sometimes that means tweaking processes already in place, and sometimes radical new approaches — including those sourced from other industries — are necessary.
In a bit of a coincidence, I had an opportunity that same week to sample for the first time an “escape the room” game. For those who have no idea what these (popular, by the number of variants available in New York City at least) games are all about, here is a short primer.
You and your group (four to eight other people) go to a facility, where you choose or have already chosen a themed room for your experience. For instance, your room may have a detective theme, and provide a musty old study as a setting. Or you may be on a spaceship, or mental hospital, or your dad’s old garage. Either way, the challenge is to escape the room within a specified period of time, usually around 60 minutes. An attendant explains the rules, points out the emergency exit button, and locks you in — which sets off a mad scramble, as everyone tries to poke around the room for clues that will allow for the group to escape, ideally without using the provided telephone to obtain hints from the gamemaster.
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Since my group escaped the room with around eight minutes to spare (without using any hints to boot), I can safely say that it was a fun experience. There is a fair bit of ingenuity in how the facilities elect to position the clues, as well as in the types of problems each clue presents. What quickly becomes clear to participants is that certain behaviors are rewarded in the game, while others can lead to failure — just like in life, or legal practice. Without spoiling the experience for anyone for anyone who has not yet tried it, the most apparent skill that is necessary to achieve a successful result is teamwork. Simply put, this is a group activity, and teams that work well together towards the common goal of escape have the best chance of success.
It was very apparent to me, even as I was working with my team to try and get out of the room, that this would be a great summer associate event, for example — particularly if a firm wanted to test out how well the summer associates would interact with each other, or with their superiors, in a fun yet challenging setting. Atmospherics are important, and a well-designed escape room will generate a certain amount of anxiety, especially in that critical period before the first clue is uncovered or the first problem solved. Even once that rubicon is crossed, the anxiety shifts — from thinking that escape would be a hopeless task to a worry about completing all the necessary steps in time. This stress is precisely what makes this experience such a great learning tool, both for participants and observers.
Just as an escape-the-room outing would be good, productive fun for a summer associate outing, I can also see it as a great bonding experience for a trial team or small law firm. We all know how important it is to get out of the office as a group for a fun activity, and based on the conversation amongst my group afterwards, if we had been inclined to treat our experience as a piece of professional learning, we could easily have done so and taken some good lessons from it. It is hard to find experiences that combine both fun and opportunities for professional growth, and I am very curious to learn whether or not any law firms, or smaller groups within firms, have tried an escape the room experience for that purpose.
Ultimately, we all enjoy experiences that challenge us, while also letting us learn a little more about ourselves and the people we work with. Even the most cynical and antisocial lawyer has an interest in learning how their team members will react under pressure, and law firms always have an interest in learning which of their employees have leadership potential. While summer associate and other law firm events can sometimes lean towards passive group activities such as a trip to the theater or a sporting event, I think that an activity like escape the room provides a great opportunity for firms to sponsor a productive, yet fun, outing. Especially considering that more strenuous physical activities may not be appropriate for all lawyers, and yet another trip to a local bar will be less likely to foster the types of interactions that a challenging experience like escape the room can lead to. So I recommend the experience, and for anyone wondering — no, you can’t leave anyone locked in the room permanently, irrespective of how annoying you find them.
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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.
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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.