10 Perspectives Illustration: Punchstock

F
For most women who are man-
aging partners of their law rm or
branch ofce, having the time to
think about the future is a great luxu-
ry. On a typical day, with every hour
comes a crisis, whether its caused by a
temperamental IT system or a client
whos grumbling about his bill or a
lawyer who needs to have his feelings
soothed.
I wish I had more time for
strategic planning, admits Karen
Hagberg, who supervises 150 lawyers
as managing partner of Morrison &
Foerster LLPs New York ofce. Like
many in her position, she balances an
active practice with her management
responsibilities, family obligations,
civic involvement, and other demands
on her time. So she and other manag-
ing partners were taken aback when
Perspectives asked them a provocative
question: If you could alter the busi-
ness model of law rms, what changes
would you make? The rst step was
to identify the current models critical
weaknesses.
Longing for Loyalty
The consensus is that law rms
are in a state of ux, struggling to
retain partners with a large book of
business and to keep associates from
using the rm as a training ground
before moving to greener pastures.
Firms are under pressure to show
increased prots each year yet create a
workplace that is collegial enough to
inspire loyalty and exible enough to
permit women to comfortably com-
bine family and career. And protabili-
ty becomes even more challenging as
local and regional rms are forced to
play on a national and international
stage to remain competitive.
Its not surprising that many of
these women are nostalgic for a time
when loyalty to the law rm could be
taken for granted.
Im disappointed in the lack of
stability these days, Hagberg says.I
interview lateral candidates who say,
Lets keep in touch, even though
theyve accepted positions at other
rms.They havent even settled into
their new job and yet theyre scouting
out their next position. I know its like
asking for a return to the good old
days, but Id like them to feel a con-
nection to the rms culture.
Law rms need something that
keeps people connected to the rm
and practice, a social network thats
more aggressive than what law rms
currently provide, says Barbara
Brown, managing partner of the
Washington, D.C., ofce of Paul,
Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP.
Ideally, she adds, the organization
would keep lawyers up to date and
mentally engaged in the workings of
the rm so they dont feel intimidated
and left behind.
When lawyers are always in play
and looking for their next job, law
rms are destabilized, says Joanne
Caruso, managing partner of Howrey
LLPs Southern California ofces.
When I graduated law school, the
expectation was that youd be at one
rm for your entire career. Now if
lawyers stay at a rm for an extended
period, people wonder whats wrong
with them.
Atlanta lawyer Linda Klein, who
has been managing partner of
Gambrell & Stolz LLP, a 35-lawyer
rm, for six years, says she, too, wishes
for greater loyalty but sees it as being
inextricably linked to compensation.
In the ideal business model, all part-
ners would share equally, and in that
utopian world, we would all believe
that we are contributing equally.
Too often, compensation is based
on who brought the work in, accord-
ing to Marianne Short, a former
appellate judge and managing partner
of the Minneapolis ofce of Dorsey
& Whitney LLP, which has 640
lawyers.Our clients could care less
about who brought them to the rm.
Theyre focused on strategy and
results.We need a system that recog-
nizes the importance of team building
and that also rewards individual cre-
ativity as well as hours billed.
Always on Call
According to Julia Blackwell
Gelinas, former managing partner
of Locke Reynolds LLP of
Indianapolis, the ideal business
model would create an enjoyable
place to work while still yielding
protability and top-drawer service.
Culture is a big issue for us. We
want to be a successful business, but
we want happy people, too.
At rst blush, these comments
strike law practice consultant Ida
Abbott as feminine responses
By Stephanie B. Goldberg
Building a
Better Law Firm
Managing Partners
Shape the Business Model
11 Commission on Women in the Profession Spring 2007
because theyre so people-oriented.
In actuality, they reect the sort of
concerns that many firm managers
are experiencing as they enter a
period that Abbott terms revolu-
tionarywhen the tyranny of the
billable hour has been eclipsed by
the tyranny of the Blackberry.
Practice is no longer local but
global, and technology allows peo-
ple to take the office home with
them. Unfortunately, that means
theres no real end to the workday.
E-mail must be checked on the
hour; calls must be returned ASAP.
The pressures to be profitable are
increasing, Abbott says, while the
institutional glue that holds firms
together is no longer there.
Having the flexibility to work
at home or from remote locations
has been both a boon and a bur-
den. But its no longer a novelty or
the exclusive province of women.
We have a lot of lawyers who
work from home on an ad hoc
basis, notes Judith Lockhart, man-
aging partner of Carter Ledyard &
Milburn LLP, a 150-year-old Wall
Street law firm with 100+ lawyers.
If someone needs to stay at home
to wait for the plumber, its silly to
make him take a vacation day.
Klein says her firm is not so
much a lifestyle firm as a caring
one. We really care when people
have problems in their family, she
points out. We go well beyond
whats required if someone has an
ill spouse or contracts a serious
illness. People know they are not
going to be pushed aside.
Ideally, large firms would be
able to display the same sensitivity
as small ones. But doing so requires
thinking outside the box, says Paul
Hastings Brown. She and others
were aware that associates might be
reticent about voicing their con-
cerns for fear of being branded
complainers. Their solution was to
create a professional concerns
committee. Three empathetic
people will listen to problems and
work through them, negotiating on
the lawyers behalf, if necessary,
Brown explains. The process is
more or less confidential. Its solved
a lot of problems.
Revolution on the Horizon
Many of these partners contend
that a new business model for law
rms should attach greater weight to
the contributions of women lawyers.
According to Morrison & Foersters
Hagberg, women dont expect to
play major roles in law rm manage-
ment, and that turns into a self-ful-
lling prophecy.Adds Jody
Newman, newly made managing
partner of Dwyer & Collora, LLP, a
25-lawyer rm in Boston: The
challenge isnt doing the job. Its get-
ting the job.
Lynne Fischman Uniman, man-
aging partner of the New York ofce
of Andrews Kurth LLP for the past
seven years, was delighted when
women in the rm banded together
two years ago to create a womens
initiative committee. The commit-
tee has taken a very strong role in
the rm and has input into policy,
she notes. Its made up of women
partners, but associates play an active
role. The group has held quarterly
luncheons, organized client/lawyer
retreats and activities ranging from
community food drives to a frankly
frivolous manicure session. A central
question, Fischman Uniman says, is
how do we support each other? We
realize that one of the ways to do
that is to get to know one another
and not just as people who sit
behind desks.
The best law rm model is one
that is capable of course correction,
says Carol Glendenning, partner of
Strasburger & Price, LLP, a Dallas-
based rm that is repositioning itself
from a regional litigation rm into
one with a national corporate and
transactional practice. The challenge
is to remain competitive while
enduring growing pains,
Glendenning says. You cant lose
track of where you need to go.
But doesnt every business face
the pressures of an increasingly ckle
workforce and global competition?
Why should they require a revolu-
tion in the legal eld? Perhaps
because law is mired in tradition,
from the venerable case study
method to the importance accorded
to stare decisis. Or maybe its that
lawyers have many roles to playin
the community and with their fami-
lies, as well as in the courtroom.
This is not an easy life,
Hagberg notes. At some point the
rising expectations of billable hours
and compensation will make us ask
how much work is too much. At a
certain point, money is no longer
the primary incentive.
Stephanie B. Goldberg is a legal affairs jour-
nalist based in Chicago and is a former mem-
ber of the Perspectives editorial board. Her
work has appeared in the New York Times,
BusinessWeek, the Chicago Tribune, and
many legal publications.
Advice from Managing Partners
Never turn down a committee assignment. One
of my rst jobs as a young partner was to be in
charge of the parking committee. If you do a good
job with a boring assignment, youll be tapped for
something more interesting, says Linda Klein of
Gambrell & Stolz.
Be decisive. Dont let obstacles or short-term
phases interfere with achieving a strategic goal,
counsels Barbara Brown of Paul Hastings. Adds Carol
Glendenning of Strasburger & Price: Im not the
stereotypical woman managing partner whos the
consensus builder. Changing a rms course can re-
quire tough decisions.
Educate your rm. My rm is aware that women
lawyers have many jobs to do and that practicing
law is just one of them, says Lynne Fischman
Uniman of Andrews & Kurth.
Be prepared for long hours. While some lawyers in-
terviewed for this article have young children, most
do not. I think you have to be prepared to put in
face time for this kind of job, Klein reports.
Little things count. When rm employees or their
spouses have a baby, I send a handwritten note,
says Marianne Short of Dorsey & Whitney. Its a
small gesture, but it tells people how important their
families are to the rm.