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Law firms must ‘continuously try’ to be good places for people to work
Two senior partners of a global firm have argued that success is not sustainable if law firms do not create environments where people want to come to work every day.
Jerome Doraisamy
Herbert Smith Freehills chair and senior partner James Palmer and global deputy senior partner Rebecca Maslen-Stannage spoke exclusively to Lawyers Weekly recently about the firm’s strategy to retain talent.
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Proclaiming that ‘every business is a people business’ might appear to be a trite comment, Mr Palmer noted it’s still a thought that one must keep coming back to when considering how best to nurture the people within a law firm, he said.
“I personally believe almost everyone who works here – underneath whatever they think is their direct, immediate responsibility – is motivated by feeling, behaving well and responsibly to others around,” he said.
“But, the truth is, it isn’t always seen that way, and they don’t always signal it as well as they could. So, we want to try to improve that, and we need to keep focusing on it.”
“People will have glitches, and they will have challenges in any organisation, and the moment you think you’ve got it all cracked is when you need to start worrying again.”
Ms Maslen-Stannage agreed, saying that if team members are better encouraged by partners, managers and senior leaders to bring their “whole self” to the table, put their ideas forward and know that they are respected, then there will be “very satisfying” outcomes for both that individual and the broader team.
“It’s really important that we constantly reinforce the message to all of our teams that what you think matters, and your idea matter,” she said.
Fostering such a nurturing environment is paramount to the success of a big law firm, Mr Palmer added, and is especially important if one is to be proud of his or her organisation. This, he noted, is a view that is shared by everyone with whom he speaks about the need for workplaces that support physical and mental health.
“I think these are things that people didn’t use to talk about, and there are still taboos that people don’t talk about. I know not everybody’s comfortable talking about these things, but we have to keep moving the dial on it,” he said.
Whether it’s the IT or finance staff, lawyers, it doesn’t matter, he argued: they’re all going to feel more fulfilled if they feel empowered to contribute and if they feel appreciated.
“It doesn’t always happen as much as we’d like, but if you keep worrying about it and you keep inculcating it in your culture, then hopefully you keep everything moving in the right direction.”
