Culture
Author | Randall Kiser |
Profession | International authority on attorney and law firm performance |
Pages | 105-135 |
5
Culture
e concept of law rm “culture” makes some attorneys uneasy. It
strikes them as being abstract, illusive, transient, and, in any event,
unrelated to the practice of law. Since culture seems to lack the tan-
gibility and rationality associated with lawyerly analysis, attorneys’
discussions about law rm culture tend to be brief, awkward, and
unavailing.1 at’s unfortunate because, as Ben Heineman, the
former general counsel of General Electric Company, asserts,
“Creating a common culture based on professional values of ser-
vice, collegiality, loyalty, quality, integration, and cooperation is
probably the greatest challenge for today’s law rm leader.”2
Attorneys’ understanding of law rm culture is hampered by their
apprehension that culture is subjective in nature—highly depen-
dent on individual perceptions and group interactions and thus
precariously linked to personal feelings and emotions. As consul-
tant David Maister explains, lawyers are trained to be dispassionate
and tend to be uncomfortable with feelings and sociability. “is
1 Lawyers and executives share an unease about culture. Harvard Business
School professor Boris Groysberg and his colleagues nd that “it is far more
common for leaders seeking to build high-performing organizations to be
confounded by culture. Indeed, many either let it go unmanaged or relegate
it to the HR function, where it becomes a secondary concern for the busi-
ness.” Groysberg, Boris, Lee, Jeremiah, Price, Jesse, & Cheng, J. Yo-Jud. (2018,
January– February). e leader’s guide to corporate culture. Harvard Business
Review, p.46.
2 Heineman, Ben W., & Lee, William F. (2010, May 20). Trust, justice and the
BigLaw Way. e American Lawyer.
105
doesn’t mean they don’t like people,” Maister elaborates. “It just
means that, statistically speaking, lawyers prefer focusing on the job
at hand rather than investing in relationships with those they are
working with (other partners or associates) or for (clients).”3 One
lawyer, for example, says he leaves his personal feelings at home;
and “when he hung up his jacket on the back of his door in the
morning, with it went his personality, both of which he put on at
the end of the day as he left the oce.”4
Although law rm culture may seem to be subjective or amor-
phous, it actually is palpable, measurable, and, for most rms,
determinative. ose attorneys who think that rm culture is
uncomfortably aective or relatively unimportant might be sur-
prised to learn that rm culture is the main reason partners cite for
leaving their rms—and the most important factor in their selec-
tion of a new rm. When asked to identify the reasons why they
left their former rm, the most common response among surveyed
partners is “did not like rm culture,” followed by “compensation”
and “rm nancial health.”5 When asked to list the most import-
ant factors in choosing their current rm, partners rank “rm
culture” above all other factors.6 “Practice area support,” “rm man-
agement,” “rm nancial health,” and “personality of partners” are
ranked below rm culture in importance.7 As these surveys indi-
cate, culture matters to attorneys and strongly inuences where
they choose to practice.
Culture also is a key factor in protability. Although people tend
to assume that nancial success contributes to a strong company
culture, the process actually works in reverse: a strong company
culture causes nancial success.8 “We found that culture causes
3 Maister, David. (2006, April). Are law rms manageable? e American Lawyer.
4 Ibid.
5 Lindsey, Jon, & Lowe, Jerey A. (2014). Lateral partner satisfaction survey
(p.12). Major, Lindsey, & Africa.
6 Ibid. at 14.
7 Ibid.
8 Boyce, Anthony S., Nieminen, Levi R. G., Gillespie, Michael A., Ryan, Ann
Marie, & Denison, Daniel R. (2015, April). Which comes rst, organizational
culture or performance? A longitudinal study of causal priority with auto-
mobile dealerships. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 36(3), 339. Denison
106 American Law Firms in Transition: Trends, Threats, and Strategies
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