It’s a cute idea — really, it is. The conceit of the project is that morale needs a boost right now and firm executives are hitting the road to make in-person visits to each U.S. office. Greenberg Traurig executive chairman Richard Rosenbaum and Brian Duffy, the firm’s CEO, have taken to a “beat up” RV and are hitting the road to see all 30 U.S offices of the firm.
It’s adorable, really. Especially as Rosenbaum told Law.com the duo are sleeping in the RV and driving it themselves.
[Rosenbaum] and Duffy, the 2,171-lawyer firm’s CEO, embarked on a cross-country road trip last weekend to meet with each of the firm’s 30 U.S. offices. The tour, dubbed “Mel on Wheels” for the firm’s late founder, Mel Greenberg, is a bid to reconnect attorneys and demonstrate the Miami-based firm’s appreciation for the lawyering that helped it reach $1.7 billion in revenue last year, 5.4% higher than 2019.
“We’re not going to remember last year based on the fact that the financial numbers were on every measure the best they ever were. We’re going to remember that we came together, that we respected our people, that we didn’t do across-the-board layoffs,” he said. “A firm that values those things wants to make sure people understand those values, that we’re not going to jot off a quick email and then go home.”
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The trip seems like a PR dream come true, combining the longed for in-person reconnections with all the cutesy of a buddy comedy waiting to happen. Rosenbaum says an RV road trip was on his bucket list, while Duffy had no such dreams, but the germ of the adventure was planted last year:
“After we got through that first quarter, we were thinking about the cultural impact of the pandemic — how could we stay connected,” Duffy said in an interview. “Richard said, ‘let’s get an RV and drive around the country when it’s safe!’ And I’ll be honest I thought he was joking, but it started to take on a life of its own.”
And it’s been branded as an outreach move with a charity twist:
“We took a chunk of our lives,” Rosenbaum continued. “And got into this little beat-up RV and drove ourselves. We slept in campgrounds. And they know why we’re doing it — to see them, but also for them to come together with each other.”
The first leg of the trip, happening this week, includes the firm’s Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Orlando, Tampa, Tallahassee, Atlanta, Houston, Austin and Dallas offices. Future legs will traverse the rest of the country, and Duffy said the firm is donating a minimum of $100,000 to local charities along the way and asking partners to match.
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And while I’m sure the intentions were well placed, several tipsters at the firm are less than thrilled. Mostly because the firm, despite the bump in revenue discussed, hasn’t ponied up the special COVID appreciation bonuses making their way through Biglaw. Take a look at some of the comments from insiders:
Greenberg Traurig senior management bought an RV and are supposedly going to drive to all the US offices as a “Getting Together” (GT = getting together, what a top shelf joke…). Coming to the office when the RV arrived is supposedly optional (except it’s not really) and attorneys are not exactly thrilled with the initiative, especially after no 2020 or 2021 Covid bonuses.
Just want to give you an update. While Greenberg Traurig’s firm leadership is busy having fun traveling around the country in their souped up RV (called Mel on Wheels) the associates are getting more and more pissed off about the lack of bonuses. Somehow firm leadership fails to see the obscenity in parading around celebrating GTs fantastically successful year (with partners seeing 6% increase in profits!) but yet not willing to provide market compensation. Yesterday, GT New York had a conference call with the associates to check in and discuss returning to office. They said that they are aware that other firms have made announcements regarding bonuses but GT is never one to follow the pack. They said GT is taking a pragmatic and deliberate approach towards giving merit based bonuses but have no other updates at this time. They hope to have more news next week. Needless to say, associates feel burned and unappreciated.
Those are very fair points. It’s hard to watch a firm thrilled with their financial performance — and over a billion dollars in revenue — still not give market compensation to their associates. Until the bonuses that peer firms are giving out are on the table at GT this road trip is likely to ring hollow.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).