There is a growing disconnect between the evolving and emerging workforce and traditional law firm operation, and I think this is a battle the law firms will lose. So rather than stay with the Old Republic, law firms need to join the group of progressive thinkers in Cloud City.
What am I talking about? Let me start off giving you an example that may help see where I'm going.
I was working with a very talented corporate attorney in the Midwest who maintained an impressive portable book of origination that exceed a 2 million dollar value. His book business was all national in nature, not tied to a specific region. To most firms in the BigLaw world, this is a valuable and viable candidate, particularly in the corporate realm in an economy that is finding its way back to pre-2007 form. This particular attorney had a residence in the southwest and was seeking to relocate. This attorney had a child in high school in the Midwest and for a year he would have to split his time between his homes in the two regions.
I presented this attorney to one of the three firms in which was interested in to both of our surprises the firm rejected the candidate because he would not be located in the Southwest city immediately.
The entire conversation that I had with the law firm recruiting director was ridiculous. The powers that be at the firm were almost offended that I would present a candidate that would have to split his time between the Midwest and Southwest. This was unheard of. It was unthinkable. Imagine, someone working from a location where the firm had no brick and mortar office? That's not how that hiring committee had been programmed in their traditional legal careers. That's not how they made their bones. You had to be in the office where someone can physically see you be productive. No, No. No. This won't work at all.
In true disbelief, I asked my contact if they ever had attorneys who would work while on vacation or did the attorneys just go dark when they left the office? The answer, of course was "Yes." Of course, I had to ask "where is the difference?" I know that a vacation is only temporary, what I was asking is was there any difference as to how the means of communication were delivered or how information was shared when someone was on vacation. Did the law firm lack a secured network or was there no access to the work email server once the attorneys left the brick and mortar? I was told "Well, of course they work off a VPN."
Let that soak in for a minute. So the firm has the means and tools in place for their attorneys to work out of office, yet they are not open to providing flexibility for a season and proven attorney who would bring so many positives to the firm. Now you may say that the firm doesn't want to open up a can of worms. That they don't want to go down that slippery slope. Next thing you know because one is allowed to, so many more will want to be afforded the same opportunity to work from home or off-sight. Think of all the "OOO" return emails.
Let me let you all in on a secret. This is 2016, not 1988. Gone are the days when a person had to actually be in the office to perform office functions. I understand wanting the junior associates to be in the office so that they can learn the ways of the force, but for a seasoned partner who has a proven track record and reputation of gaining, developing and producing? That is ridiculous.
For Millennials, who will soon enough comprise the majority of the workforce, flexibility with work hours and personal fulfillment take precedence over anything else- including money. It will be common twenty years from now for a successful law firm attorney to work off-site the majority, if not all of the time. Why are law firms so hesitant to begin that cultural transition now? It will be those slow to the party that will struggle to hold on to top talent in the coming years. In these era when staying with IBM for forty years doesn't exist anymore, firms need to realize that this is a candidate's workforce. Making yourself more attractive and flexible to top talent will be essential to survival as we move further into the 21st century and shed out 20th century standards. It is time that law firms move of the ice planet Hoth and head over to Cloud City where the citizens welcome the future.
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