Law Firm Culture vs Core Values

It’s how things get done around your firm

By James Wittmack

The success or failure of your law firm is contingent upon harmonizing its existing culture with the dynamic competitive landscape. Should your current cultural framework prove incompatible with the evolving business environment, a strategic realignment becomes imperative, regardless of its historical appropriateness.

It is essential to discern between culture and core values, as they play distinct yet complementary roles in fostering a thriving organization. Core values constitute the fundamental principles of philosophy, ethics, and integrity that define the identity and beliefs of the firm. These values inform the mission, vision, and objectives, serving as guiding principles for the behavior and decision-making of all members of the legal and business teams. However, they lose their efficacy if not consistently exemplified through leadership actions, transcending mere symbolic representation.

Culture, on the other hand, encapsulates the collective mindset, behaviors, and customs that dictate the approach to tasks, typically established by the firm’s founders. It encompasses shared attitudes, communication styles, decision-making processes, and work methodologies, collectively shaping the organizational “personality” and influencing the overall work environment.

Every law firm possesses a distinct culture, whether consciously crafted or organically developed, evidenced through various aspects such as office layout, branding, communication protocols, meeting structures, accountability mechanisms, and team-building initiatives. The viability of your firm hinges upon the alignment of its current culture with the prevailing competitive dynamics, necessitating adaptability and evolution, even if the existing culture was conducive in the past.

In a legal landscape characterized by numerous firms, each with its unique cultural imprint, your firm’s culture and core values serve as the foundation of its sustainable competitive advantage, setting it apart from competitors. Articulating and effectively communicating these cultural attributes to potential clients become imperative for differentiation and client attraction.

Culture permeates beyond surface-level manifestations like casual Friday gatherings, exerting a profound influence on the organizational climate shaped by formal programs, communication channels, behavioral norms, business objectives, and value systems. Managing the diversity of cultures within a law firm, especially between legal and business divisions, necessitates nuanced leadership approaches tailored to the specific needs and dynamics of each domain.

The alignment of culture with core values becomes evident in the distinct operational rhythms and collaborative dynamics observed within legal and business teams. While cultural nuances may vary, core values serve as the unifying force, rooted in the founders’ experiences and convictions, guiding the collective actions and aspirations of both factions.

Building a robust organizational culture requires sustained investment in time, effort, and consistency, reflecting the leadership philosophy and style. It is a collective endeavor that extends beyond the purview of a single leader, requiring the active participation and alignment of all stakeholders.

For culture to wield its intended impact, leaders must embody it through their actions, as they serve as the primary agents of cultural transmission and reinforcement. Consistency between leadership actions and espoused cultural values fosters credibility and trust among team members, reinforcing the cultural ethos.

In essence, culture encompasses the shared values, symbols, behaviors, and underlying assumptions that shape the modus operandi within a company. It constitutes the unwritten code of conduct and prevailing mindset that guides decision-making and interactions, transcending monetary considerations to encompass fundamental aspects such as self-awareness, interpersonal relationships, and the intrinsic value of work in life.

In conclusion, culture serves as the bedrock of organizational identity and operational efficacy, exerting a pervasive influence on all facets of a law firm’s functioning. Recognizing its significance and proactively aligning it with core values and external exigencies is indispensable for ensuring long-term success and relevance in a dynamic and competitive legal landscape.

Cultures have low and high sociability or solidarity or a blend of both.

These are fundamental questions to answer to help you begin to identify your culture.

1. Is the organization or individual more important?
2. What is your priority: the organization over the individual?
3. Are you willing to fire people for poor performance, even if it hurts the organization?
4. Would you rather cover for a friend than fire one because the company will survive?
5. Are you prepared to sacrifice individuals for the group?
6. What is your first reaction about whether or not to keep someone?

“Sometimes people just need to be fired, but they’ll survive,” this suggests you have a higher comfort level with putting the company first.

Who is the stakeholder?

The term “stakeholder” means different things to different cultures. What relative weights do you give to shareholders, employees, customers, and the community? In a networked culture, the primary stakeholders are employees. In a high-productivity culture, the primary stakeholders are shareholders and the key employees who generate profits. Fragmented culture stakeholders are the individuals who comprise the company. Communal cultures see stakeholders as the world.

How close are the people? How close people are to each other differs between cultures. Are you prepared to reveal your weaknesses to others and learn about theirs?

Networked and communal demand more self-revelation. High Productivity or fragmented cultures focus on performance.

Justice

1. Is justice important to your culture?
2. How do you define fairness?
3. Are people compensated in that contest?

Fitting in

1. Is fitting in important?
2. Do you mesh well with our culture?
3. How much will you compromise to reap financial and personal rewards?
4. What trade-offs are you willing to make?

Space

• What does your space allocation tell you about status and power?
• How do people decorate their space?
• What does the main entrance tell you about your firm?
• Is space work-related? Partwork and part social?

Communication

• How do people exchange information?
• How easy is it to communicate, upward or downward?
• How does the organization communicate across geographical and cultural distances?
• Does everyone talk in groups or one-on-one?

Time

• How long do people stay at work?
• When do they know if they’re wasting their time?
• How long do people stay in their jobs?
• How long does it take to get to know someone in your organization?

Identity

• Do people try to dress alike to fit a company image?
• Does the culture encourage individuality?
• Do people identify with their work unit or their profession?
• Are loyalties retained even when the formal association ends?

Some want to bring all of who they are to work and work in a business that lets them do that. Others let go of being who they are to work in return for something from the culture, such as the friendliness of a networked culture, the clarity of purpose of a high-productivity culture, or the freedom of a fragmented culture.

If the financial reward is high enough, some will let go of their preferences and adjust even though it is unnatural

Sociability vs. Solidarity

Sociability

What is a sociability culture?

• Sociability is a measure of friendliness on the job and outside the office. A high sociability culture celebrates birthdays, visits sick coworkers, gathers for picnics and softball games, and cocktails after work.
• Sociability may help the company as people bounce ideas off each other, share information, and support colleagues in need. Alternatively, it may have a neutral effect, as the talk creates neither benefit nor harm to the business. Alternatively, high levels of social interaction may produce adverse outcomes for the company if it leads to gossiping and negative politics, with people forming cliques to pursue their agendas.

Solidarity

What is solidarity culture?

• Working to achieve common goals regardless of participants’ feelings toward each other.
• Solidarity can be beneficial, neutral, or detrimental. People can either work together toward mutual corporate goals, focus on their group’s targets without impacting the overall company, or fight each other to try and get ahead.

Four cultures:

1. High productivity
2. Fragmented
3. Communal
4. Network

High Productivity Culture

low sociability and high solidarity

A high-productivity culture is based on the ability and talent of an elite group of people. High Productivity cultures reward outcomes. People are paid for hitting targets and meeting objectives, regardless of personality type, gender, or race.

High Productivity culture is tunnel vision on priorities, goals, and strategies, allowing it to move quickly in one direction. Management can respond instantly and decisively when change happens quickly. No time is lost on building consensus and sustaining relationships.

Combines the drive for money with other addicting qualities: passion, energy, sense of purpose, and excitement. Even in its healthy mode, the High Productivity culture can be ruthless. Fierce agreement on goals, a zest to get things done quickly.

At a High Productivity company, work is not fun. The goal is always to win and, even better, to destroy the enemy. When you are the underdog, the High Productivity culture fixates on the top dog, which can be enormously energizing.

Space

• Allocated to get the job done, not socialize.
• Functionally and flexibly, reflecting drive toward simple, efficient means of task achievement. Work-related awards are posted.

Communication

• Swift, direct, and work-focused, with little idle conversation.
• Symptoms having a negative effect can include confrontation and legalistic dueling.
• Meetings are all business with a premium on outcomes.

Time

• Money, and often long hours are spent on the job.
• Getting to know each other is not a priority.
• Idle chat is viewed as a waste of time.

Identity

• Winning.
• Differences are encouraged if they help achieve results.
• It is common to shift allegiances.

FRAGMENTED Culture

low sociability and solidarity

A fragmented enterprise sees justice as an individual matter and compensates according to a person’s reputation among peers.

Fragmented cultures allow their members to be themselves. As unconventional as they want. Work must bring success and respect to the enterprise. No one knows how they look or what they wear because they often work from home.

Law firms identify more with fragmented cultures because their work does not require collaboration. Attorneys work directly with clients and move their matters forward independently. Law firms can achieve a higher level of success more quickly if they fight the urge to drift toward a fragmented culture and embrace a more collaborative culture. Fragmented cultures often result in high turnover, increasing overhead costs and discouraging loyalty. Law firm founders find it challenging to persuade attorneys to work in the office instead of at a remote location.

Fragmented cultures have little interdependence in work activities. It’s a fit for virtual offices, outsourcing, and subcontracting. Innovation comes from individual activities.

Unlike the ruthless sense of solidarity that workers feel in a high-productivity culture or the

inescapable sense of sociability that employees feel in a networked culture, the people within a fragmented culture are often surprised even to find that they have a culture.

Fragmented cultures manifest both low sociability and low solidarity.

Space

• Designed for work to get done without interruption so individuals can work alone.
• Closed doors and well-equipped offices allow the employees to be self-contained.

Communication

• Rarely other than brief one-on-one exchanges.
• Meetings: No one is around to attend, so Zoom meetings or digital communication often are the medium of choice.

Time

• Is not valued. Achievement is valued.
• Work time is used to pursue individual and technical excellence.
• Interfering with this pursuit is considered a waste of time.
• Often, individuals work together for years without knowing each other.

Identity

• Individualism and freedom.
• Technical excellence, minimal interference.
• Differences don’t impede performance.
• Professional allegiances are not personal.
• Loneliness is common.

COMMUNAL Culture

high sociability and solidarity

Communal cultures are the least accepting of the individual. To be embraced into a communal culture, you have to buy into the values and goals of the group. Disagreement with the company’s objectives or values results in rejection. Either you believe or you don’t. If you don’t believe in the culture, you don’t belong.

Employees enjoy working together and hate competition. Effective only when it is appropriate for the company’s business environment. It is difficult to maintain because sociability and solidarity contradict each other. It is hard to have a level of respect and kindness among people in the company and eliminate poor performers.

Companies can be tremendously effective when sociability and solidarity are healthy in a communal culture. In addition, the people who work for them can feel very fulfilled.

A communal culture looks like a networked company and a high-productivity one combined; it creates high levels of friendship and a strong focus on performance.

When a communal culture functions well, it’s a powerful force for business success and personal satisfaction. It is hard to maintain sociability and solidarity at the same time.

High sociability would make it awkward to confront a coworker about poor performance. High solidarity would demand it, no matter what.

These contradictions can easily cause communal cultures to fall out of balance.

Space

• Designed through an open plan, with lots of movement between offices.
• Extensive space for informal socializing.
• There are not many individualized offices, and there are few barriers.

Communication

• Face-to-face.
• Nonverbal communication is important.
• Common bonds are formed with the style and color of clothing.
• Communication mainly uses company jargon and excludes outsiders, even customers.

Time

• Conventionaltime is ignored.
• Work and non-work dissolve into each other.
• Marriages, work-related friendships, and even affairs are common.

Identity

• Company’s values and mission, logos on clothing, shopping at its stores on weekends, and use of its products.
• Fierce loyalty, and individuals tend to support it even after they leave.

NETWORKED culture

high sociability and low solidarity

Networked cultures lend themselves to more creative work. The environment is open and accepting, stimulating innovative ideas to be shared and debated. Network

Networked cultures appear to have interchangeable people because they tend to hire people with the same personalities but are remarkably tolerant of differences in appearance and actions. Colleagues are open-minded about members’ ethnic backgrounds, traditions, and perspectives.

Is your network culture negative or positive? If you agree with the statement, “Friendship often stops people from making tough decisions,” you probably have a negative network culture. If you agree, “Friendships mean people stay even when times are rough.” you probably have a positive network culture.

Space

• Office doors are open and unlocked.
• People move freely in and out of each other’s space.
• Some hierarchy is reflected in offices and parking spaces.

Communication

• Intensive, informal with an emphasis on rapid information exchange.
• Symptoms having an adverse effect can include the formation of cliques with an emphasis on style rather than substance.

Time

• Work time is often used to socialize; employees can socialize without being penalized for socializing at work.
• Part of the workday could occur at a bar or golf course.

Identity

• People identify with each other.
• Sociability ties.
• Excessive displays of personal differences are discouraged.
• Social rituals tie people in through alumni and associations even after they leave.