Legal.

• Position: Industry Outlook - Discussion

PARTICIPANTS:

Back Row:

Jefferson Gross, Burbidge Mitchell & Gross,. Andrew Morse, Snow Christensen & Martineau; Art Berger, Ray Quinney & Nebeker; Brian Hulse, Snell & Wilmer; Rand Bateman, Bateman IP; Lynn Davies, Richards Brandt Miller & Nelson; Daniel Jensen, Parr Brown Gee & Loveless; Scott Young, Stoel Rives; Justin Scott, Babcock Scott & Babcock; Eric Maxfield, Holland & Hart; Glenn Bronson, Prince Yeates & Geldzahler; Bill Fillmore, Fillmore Spencer

Front Row:

Steve Clyde, Clyde Snow & Sessions; Keven Rowe, Jones Waldo; Lorin Barker, Kirton McConkie; Kevin Pinegar, Durham Jones & Pinegar; Stephen Owens, Epperson & Owens; Kevin Anderson, Fabian; Hal Pos, Parsons Behle & Latimer; Annette Jarvis, Dorsey & Whitney; Ellen Maycock, Kruse Landa Maycock & Ricks; Brian Burnett, Callister Nebeker & McCullough; Brandon Roper, Austin Rapp & Hardman; Curtis Jensen, Utah State Bar/ Snow Jensen & Reece

Seated:

Christian Clinger, Clinger Lee Clinger; Jason McNeill, Magleby & Greenwood; Brent Lorimer, Workman Nydegger; Dickson Burton, TraskBritt; Cathy Larson, Strong & Hann': Mark Gaylord, Ballard Spahr

Utah's legal industry is stronger than ever, with many firms and lawyers receiving national acclaim. Our group of leading lawyers discusses trends impacting the industry, such as changes in business structure, including the partnership track and billing methods, the influx of recent graduates, social media and other technology challenges, and the ever-increasing need for pro bono work.

We'd like to give a special thank you to Curtis Jensen, managing shareholder at Snow Jensen & Reece and president of the Utah State Bar, for moderating the discussion.

In what areas are you seeing growth in your local firms? Is there a change in dynamics?

LARSON: The paradigm is changing with the typical law firm, because you would expect to see a pyramid-type model with equity shareholders at the top and associates at the bottom of that pyramid. Now it's changing to more of a diamond model, with not only equity shareholders but non-equity shareholders and other categories of shareholders, as well as the complement of associates.

So we're seeing, in our firm and other firms of like size and practice, those kinds of changes, where it's no longer that you're somewhere for seven or eight years, then you're an equity shareholder. There are now other categories to account for differences in attorneys. Some attorneys are not ready to be an equity shareholder. Some attorneys are not desirous to be an equity shareholder.

POS: We continue to try to expand our footprint within our existing markets. We've added some new practice areas. The biggest change for us in terms of trying to deliver cost-effective legal service is this past year we've hired a number of nonpartnership-track lawyers. We are still committed to bringing in young associates who are on partnership tracks, but we've brought in a number of non-partnership-track associates, some contract lawyers, some lawyers and paralegals that are secondary to our clients. It's a way for us to enhance our revenues, but at the same time keep our costs to our clients down.

BARKER: For a few years we slowed down our associate hiring. We've picked that back up, and now we're back where we were. But we have a whole new category of lawyers as well--whether you call them non-equity or whatever. We call them staff attorneys. We're not quite sure how to deal with them. I'm curious how many other firms are doing the same. We're back up to hiring our usual number of associates, but we have now eight or nine staff attorneys and are trying to figure out exactly where they fit in. It's a little tricky.

How are you dealing with the generational shift in your hiring? How are you addressing their interests to satisfy them and have them fit in this traditional model, but give them the latitude and the freedom that they want?

GAYLORD: We have a huge real estate practice in Salt Lake and across the country, and what we do with many of our associates, particularly in real estate, is they are all on a part-time basis, whether working either 80 or 75 percent, to give them the ability to have a family life and whatever opportunities they want to exercise. We have found that very successful in keeping good associates who ultimately elevate to partnership based on a part-time level. They're compensated a little bit differently because of that part-time level, but that's a way of keeping and dealing with it.

In terms of technology, the generation has changed. A lot of people around the table, we go into an office and talk to our associates, give them an assignment. But those in Generation X respond to us differently. They like responding with a text or an email. They don't want to respond verbalizing it, which can be a problem.

And with that shift comes a way of working with people outside of the office. If they want to work from home, we also allow them to work from home. We can email, we can communicate. We're even to the point where our cell phones are now being used for videoconferencing so that, even though they may not be in the office, we can actually see them.

LARSON: We've also found that money doesn't motivate the Millennials. They're motivated by a lot of other things, and work/life balance is a critical issue for them. We've tried to incorporate that into our training plan, giving all of our associates mentors, giving them the professional development and the tasks that they need to develop professionally. They want responsibility. We want to give lawyers the latitude so they have a sense of satisfaction in their work life as well as their personal life. We utilize technology to let them work remotely if they want to or they need to. We encourage business development.

Long gone are the days that you could just throw out a bonus or a decent salary and they would work really hard to achieve that. It has to be something much more than that. So we're really in tune to that and we're always trying to find ways to motivate these young people.

As you deal with this younger group, what are some of their fears and their goals and their interests, and how are you addressing those so that you have loyalty and longevity amongst them?

JAR VIS: We have organized our firm around practice groups, and the practice groups work across the firm internationally. It allows us to involve the associates immediately in the business of the firm as well as with our clients.

We spend a significant amount of time mentoring associates. They have formal mentors that work with them, give them feedback, because they are concerned: Am I making the grade? They're used to a very structured environment in school where they knew what they needed to do to get an A and they got it, and now they're in an environment where the expectations aren't as clear. So in mentoring them, we try to help them understand how to work with various bosses within the firm, to meet client needs. They need that feedback.

It also allows us to put them in teams so they can succeed together, they can work together and create their work/ life balance better as they pass work back and forth. It gives them interesting, challenging work to do. There's a lot of uncertainty in the market, and they need attention to know that they're important and they're being fostered and taught, that they can be successful.

BURTON: From the summer law clerks, we make extra efforts to get them two things: training and substantive involvement in something they can see is meaningful. In other words, give them some really interesting work to do. But the training and mentoring is key to give them the tools they need to learn how to do what we're asking them to do.

Maybe it's just because of the associates we've hired, but in the last two or three years the tables have shifted a little bit in the sense that these young attorneys are grateful for a job, because their classmates aren't getting them. To get a job with a good firm, with interesting work, with good compensation is security that they have that a lot of their classmates don't. We see an uptick in the dedication to the work, to the firm, a real interest in learning how to do our profession, how to work at it so that they can have job security in the years to come. They see that the economy is...