What Law Firm Culture Is Not About

Despite the protestations of most law firm management and, even, lawyers, my experience is that many of the platitudes parrotted by law firms about their internal culture are patently untrue. Here’s my take:

“Our firm values sharing (as long as it’s someone else who is sharing with me).” You know, shareholders actually have to give up a piece of their ownership when inviting new partners to the fold and it’s why those battles are so hard fought. “Is this new partner WORTH what I lose when he/she is elevated to ownership status?” is generally the private concern. And the judgement is most often based on the cash flow contribution that the partner represents from increased business or the potential loss of cash flow the originated clients would represent if the candidate should leave. Is the election ever not economically based? Probably. But rarely.

“We care about one another (and you can start by caring about what’s important to me).” Law firms don’t care about the concerns of vendors, nor – to a lesser extent – staff. “You’re here to help me, not vice-versa” is the loudly unstated message confirmed by abrupt demands for extra work, overtime, constant renegotiation of terms, lack of notice and extensive revisions on work product and assignment of menial duties to even the senior professional staff. Many lawyers could use a thorough series of lessons in interpersonal skills and manners.

“We pride ourselves on a culture of collegiality (but don’t touch my client list unless you want to lose your fingers).” Just watch what happens when one attorney makes contact with another’s client for the purpose of introducing other lines of business to the client (cross-marketing). Even an inadvertent and accidental contact in a social setting can produce a defensive cascade bordering on nuclear annihilation.

“Our tradition is to make decisions by consensus (as long as the powerful shareholders let us).” In spite of the shareholder democracy, action is generally driven by powerful, influential attorneys, often without true consensus. Just marshall the supporters and then the majority rules. Rather like another famous political body: Congress.

“We respect and value our firm’s brand (as long as it identifies me as the most important).” Brand, in fact, is of little interest to individual attorneys, who by personality and behavior pattern are much closer to lone wolves than pack animals like sheep. The brand is of integral importance to most firms, however, because that is how the firm can best overcome the economic power of individual rainmakers. The development of a firm brand gives the entire enterprise a personality and set of characteristics with which to transcend the charm and influence of any one attorney.