January 21, 2011 6:35 PM

Culture Shock

Posted by Ed Shanahan

by Steven Harper

On December 30, K&L Gates chairman Peter Kalis sent an e-mail to his partners that quickly made its way into the legal blogosphere. Bluntly, Kalis reminded them to collect payment on outstanding client bills before the firm's fiscal year ended the next day. A tipster notified Above the Law, which reproduced it [complete with typos purportedly made in the original]:

"Let me be clear about a couple of things. First, partners and administrators at this law firm are expected to run through the tape at midnight on December 31. Many of you came from different cultures. I don't care about your prior acculturation. We didn't conscript you into service at this law firm. You came volunatrily [sic]. What we are you are as well.

"And that brings me to my second point. We are a US-based global law firm. US law firms operate on a cash basis of accounting. Our fees must be collected by midnight within the fiscal year in which they are due. You don’t get to opt out of this feasture [sic] because it doesn't appeal to you. Again, I couldn't care less whether it appeals to you. It is who we are and therefore it is who you are. Get us paid by tomrrow [sic]."

Kalis' message demonstrates three things about big firms--from the predictably banal to the inadvertently profound.

First, although the tone is a bit harsh, the substantive content doesn't surprise any big-firm partner. Most lawyers aren't particularly good businessmen. Reminding them that aging invoices require follow-up isn't evil or wrong; it's necessary. No attorney enjoys nagging clients about an overdue receivable. Presumably, the December 30 message was just the final step in a sustained year-end drive asking partners to complete a task that, until then, they’d avoided (as I always did).

Second, e-mail is perilous. Speedy communication can be great, but it's fraught with danger. In less than a minute, you can address, type, and send a message to an entire group (and eventually reach many more blogs and their readers). If you don’t take the time to proofread for typos, much less reflect on how others might later analyze your statements, no one will stop you from hitting the send button. Once released, the words assume a life of their own and context disappears. Every trial lawyer who has sought to explain away a client's unflattering e-mail message understands the problem. Surprisingly, some of those same lawyers fail to apply the lesson to their own writings. Next time, Kalis will probably prepare a script and deliver his thoughts via voicemail.

The third point has nothing to do with substance--that is, chiding partners to get client bills paid. Rather, the message acknowledges an unintended consequence of the prevailing big-law business model: It has produced unprecedented lateral partner mobility that, in turn, erodes distinctive firm cultures. Two sentences make the point:

"Many of you came from different cultures. I don’t care about your prior acculturation."

Six months ago, I praised Kalis for encouraging prospective associates to put interviewing partners on the spot when he urged: "[Recruits] should ask searching questions. How practice has changed over the years and how you deal with the changing demands. And how hard it is to reconcile your life at work with the rest of your life…I don't believe lawyers should bow to icons. I want them to look me in the eye and ask tough questions."

Although they probably won't pose them, recruits now have more tough questions for him and other big-law attorneys: As partners lateral into equity partnerships, how does the culture of the hiring firm change? Does it coalesce around the common denominator of maximizing current-year profits? Or is there room for other, nonmonetary values that have traditionally defined the profession? If it's the latter, how does the firm encourage them?

The answers matter because Kalis's e-mail emphasizes (twice): "What we are you are as well."

I don't know about K&L Gates, but what passes for culture in too many big firms is his message's final exhortation: "Get us paid by tomrrow [sic]."

 

Steven J. Harper is an adjunct professor at Northwestern University. He recently retired as a partner at Kirkland & Ellis, after 30 years in private practice. His blog about the legal profession, The Belly of the Beast, can be found at www.thebellyofthebeast.wordpress.com. A version of the column above was first published on The Belly of the Beast.

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