Law Practice Management, Law Firm Coaching : Ronda Muir of Robin Rolfe Resources : Law People Blog

In the era of the global law firm comes (wisely, in our view) the introduction of the position of Global Chief People Officer into law firm senior management .  Reed Smith announced last week that its creation of  the position underscores the increasing importance the firm places on running itself as a business.

"You see more of this in global companies," said Gary Sokulski, Reed Smith's chief operating officer. "Since we're a people business, it's only natural to have someone who focuses on the people aspect.  It's similar to a human resources officer, but focused more on employee concerns such as work-life balance, better managing and evaluating talent, and creating higher-level training programs."

Since 2001, Reed Smith has consolidated with firms from around the world, including in New York, California, Chicago, London, Abu Dhabi, Greece, Dubai, Paris, Hong Kong and Beijing, increasing in size from 600 attorneys based in the U.S. to more than 1,500 worldwide. Meeting the challenges of that much lateral integration alone would merit a full-time professional.

DLA Piper, with more than 3,600 lawyers over 64 offices in 25 countries, and arguably (depending on which moment you're counting) the second largest law firm in the world, has had a Global Chief People Officer for several years, Robert Halton, headquartered in London. 

"Unlike other organizations, the cliche of people being the best asset is completely true in law firms. We don't have any machinery or stores, so it's the people providing the competitive edge in the market. Getting the right people is crucial to the success of a law firm, and keeping that pipeline of talent flowing is also crucial," Halton says.

Small and mid-size firms face equally critical people issues as do the new behemoths, but for them, adding a dedicated full-time professional to firm overhead in order to address those issues often is unrealistic. 

We at RRR offer an Outside/Inside Consulting arrangement whereby we will spend a designated number of days per week or month as your Chief People Officer.  Our experience brings efficient expertise to your people concerns in an affordable format.

Make way for a Global Chief People Officer at your firm, whatever the size.

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One of the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley rules for publicly traded companies is that they demonstrate that they are promoting an "ethical culture" in the workplace.  What does that mean?

"The Manager's Book of Decencies:  How Small Gestures Build Great Companies" by Steve Harrison, chairman of Woodcliff Lake, N.J.-based Lee Hecht Harrison, the employee outplacement arm of Adecco Human Capital Solutions, a division of Adecco SA of Glattbrugg, Switzerland, is an attempt to answer that question.

Mr. Harrison's contends that an ethical culture is the result of many small, and sometimes large, gestures made over a long period of time, with the driving force coming from the top.

"Being decent isn't about being nice... or spending more money-- it's about treating people fairly," Harrison claims. He also believes that good role models at the top have certain common traits. Those Harrison acknowledges as outstanding role models are Colgate-Palmolive Co. chairman Reuben Mark, Nucor Corp.'s former CEO Kenneth Iverson (who died in 2002), Campbell Soup Co. president and CEO Douglas R. Conant, Southwest Airlines Co. chairman Herbert Kelleher, and Dial Corp.'s former president and CEO, Herbert Baum. 

These five leaders exhibit what Harrison calls a high level of "moral intelligence," which is marked by humility and honesty during both good times and bad.

If employers can pay attention to the issues that matter to their employees, "like finding some kind of fulfillment in the job they come in to day after day...then they're on their way to creating a culture of decency which is critical to attracting, retaining and engaging employees."

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The Board of Law Examiners proposed increasing the passing score on the New York bar exam from 660 to 675 in 5-point intervals, the first of which was instituted in July 2005 with the next two increments scheduled for the following two summers.  Those have been delayed and the National Conference of Bar Examiners has issued a 155-page report on the diversity impact of that proposal.  If the full 15-point increase were instituted (which is significantly less than the 33 point increase initially considered), fully half of all African-Americans would fail the exam--up over 8% from the prior fail rate.  The impact on other races would also be significant--an additional 5% of Hispanics, 6% of Asians and 10% of Puerto Ricans would fail, but their total pass rates would in each case remain over 65%.  Only the African-American pass rate would fall below 50%. 

This data corresponds interestingly with the study conducted by Professor Sander at the University of California, Los Angeles, which has generated fierce debate.  Sander's provocative study concludes that a major reason blacks are not as well represented among law firm partners as they are among new associates is that they have much lower average grades than their cohorts.  Sander also indicts the law schools for admitting blacks who are not prepared enough to do well at law schools.  Very few blacks graduate from the top 30 law schools with high grades.  While blacks make up 1-2% of law students with grades in the top half of their class, they make up 8% of corporate law firm hires, yet they are one-fourth as likely to make partner, and they leave large firms at 2-3 times the rate of white associates.  An interesting fact is that blacks have a much better shot at partnership at smaller firms, which are less likely to hire associates with lower than standard grades.

Some commentators have questioned the importance of grades (women lawyers have higher grades than men but are also under-represented as partners), others have attributed the fallout to a lack of mentoring or training, or to the fierce competition for able blacks, who are often hired away by clients, while still others contend that the big firm hiring practice sets blacks up for failure, reinforcing stereotypes on the way.

The importance of the two studies converge, particularly for New York law firms, if raising the bar pass rate further reduces the number of eligible black associates that firms can choose from.  Will those reduced numbers make prestigious firms lower their grade standards even further, with the implication that retention rates may drop even lower?

There is no question that any firm solving the diversity puzzle reaps a hiring, marketing and productivity bonanza.  Successfully hiring and integrating blacks, as well as other minorities, including women, requires that a firm understand its own and its associates' cultural strengths and biases, have an active, long-term integration program that addresses each specific attorney and his/her goals, and honestly, consistently and regularly evaluate its own progress.

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