I. THE FUNDAMENTAL PURPOSE OF THE FIRM IS TO SERVE OUR CLIENTS.
Good lawyering is judged by how effectively client goals are achieved (e.g., business transition without controversy, legal relationships without ambiguity, resolution of disputes without unnecessary loss of goodwill), rather than by reference to the achievement of lawyer goals (e.g., number of cases won, making law at the "cutting edge"). Our objective is to perform legal services in the way that the client would want us to if he or she had our knowledge and expertise, and taking into account the costs/benefits of our work (subject, of course, to legal, ethical and other appropriate principles).
The firm fosters long-term client relationships, because most clients prefer and are better served by such relationships. This approach is also consistent with providing the best quality legal service since the attorneys involved tend to be intimately familiar with the client and his, her, or their temperament, needs, and motivations. The firm does not require client projects to be staffed by more attorneys solely in order to preserve the client relationship in the event that one of the attorneys might leave the firm. There are often situations where clients and the firm are better served by having numerous individual contacts and relationships between members of the firm and the client, but those determinations should be made by reference to what is in the clients' best interests.
The quality of our legal services should range between very good to excellent. This is only achieved if people strive for perfection, again from the standpoint of client objectives.
This approach has meant that we do not have to engage in extensive marketing.
II. WE SEEK TO ACHIEVE WHAT IS BEST FOR BOTH CLIENTS AND THE FIRM ITSELF OVER THE LONG TERM.
Over the long term, the interests of the firm and our clients tend to converge. Similarly, the interests of all of our attorneys and other employees at the firm tend to converge over the long term. The goal here is to recruit and train people who are long-term participants who will recognize this benefit.
The firm's Board of Directors (which consists of all its shareholders) makes decisions with a view toward enhancing the firm as an institution, rather than focusing on individual memebers’ immediate self-interest at the expense of the firm's future. This means that decisions are made with respect to firm and client matters (e.g., recruiting, staffing, pricing of particular projects, etc.), with the long-term best interests of the client and firm in mind.
Long-term thinking starts at the top, but it doesn't end there. When properly analyzed, the biggest beneficiaries of such an approach are the youngest members of the firm.
III. MONETARY COMPENSATION IS DESIGNED TO ALIGN THE INTERESTS OF EACH LAWYER AND HIS OR HER FAMILY WITH THOSE OF THE FIRM AND ITS CLIENTS.
We didn't invent the economics of the practice of law, but it is important for the compensation system to reflect these realities, including overhead, marginal revenues and marginal expenses. Overall, our approach on compensation is to encourage productivity by rewarding work effort and results achieved for clients.
Our compensation system is designed to closely correlate compensation with performance. Compensation and other business decisions are to be made by reference to what's fair for everyone involved, rather than just the decision-makers or some favored group.
The net effect of these arrangements is that there are no "golden handcuffs" to keep attorneys in the firm, other than the fact that they are unlikely to do better financially – or to find a more effective setting in which to serve clients – elsewhere. The mutual self-interest created by our compensation system creates a much more effective bond than any formal set of contract rights.
IV. FOR THE BENEFIT OF BOTH THE FIRM AND OUR CLIENTS, IT IS IMPORTANT FOR EACH ATTORNEY TO MATURE INTO A REPUTABLE LAWYER IN HIS OR HER OWN RIGHT.
This means different things to different people. However, the goal is for each shareholder to have his or own independent client base (often from opportunities generated from within the firm), and also to be recognized within the legal and general community as an accomplished professional, in all senses of that term. A nice byproduct of this model is that each of the shareholders is fully in control of his or her own personal financial security.
Given the diversity of the firm's client base, our attorneys do not practice exclusively within narrow areas of the law. Instead, they "specialize" in honing and developing the skills necessary to serve our client base. Nevertheless, each of the attorneys here generally develops expertise in several areas of the law. This involves moving up multiple learning curves, but more importantly, developing the capacity to work effectively in numerous areas without sacrificing quality.
It is impossible to be a lawyer of this caliber unless you derive independent satisfaction out of doing a good job for clients. This, in turn, requires the talent, the training, and the long-term, client-centered focus that is the hallmark of this firm.
Despite the time and emotional commitment that high-quality law practice at our firm demands, all of our attorneys "get a kick" out of practicing law. In fact, the same point could be made for the entire staff. This is obviously to the benefit of our clients.
