When Diversity Works

Of the top litigation firms in the country that boast a blue-chip roster of Fortune 100 clients, how many are composed of more than 50% women lawyers, 25% gay or lesbian lawyers, and a Native American shareholder? I only know of one: Caldwell, Leslie, Newcombe and Pettit (CLNP) in Los Angeles.

There are six associates at CLNP (including one completing a clerkship and scheduled to join the firm in the fall). Five are women. Three are women of color. More than 50% of the firm's ownership is held by female or minority shareholders. Two of the women attorneys came to the firm later in life after other careers. All but one of the firm's shareholders have children ranging in age from nine months to 23 years. Many of those children, as a result of cross-cultural adoption or their parents' ethnicities, are racial minorities. The managing shareholder is a lesbian. By any standard applied to American businesses, and especially law firms, the representation of minorities and women at CLNP is remarkable. It is, however, no accident.

Shared Values Lead To A Respectful And Diverse Working Culture

CLNP was formed 15 years ago, when several attorneys then working at a small Los Angeles firm elected not to follow the partners of that firm to the Los Angeles office of a large Wall Street firm. “We felt that a small firm offered a better opportunity to perform high-quality, interesting legal work while at the same time providing an environment of respect for the attorneys as individuals,” says Chris Caldwell, one of the firm's founding members. As CLNP has grown, respect for each individual has remained a cornerstone of its culture.

High Quality Work Attracts Many Candidates

The commitment to culture has facilitated CLNP's efforts both to create a diverse workforce and to attract and perform work of the highest quality. The result is a team of staff members and lawyers whose creative approach to cases is appreciated by clients. At a time when small litigation “boutiques” are increasingly rare, CLNP is flourishing. For example, Mike Leslie, one of the firm's shareholders, notes: “Shell Oil Company recently set out to reduce the number of law firms it uses to increase the efficiency of its legal work. After a nationwide search, it named 27 law firms as 'Strategic Partners.' Only three Los Angeles-based firms made that list. CLNP is one of them.”

CLNP offers an intelligent alternative to big firm practice for clients and attorneys. MaryBeth LippSmith, a second-year associate, came to CLNP after finishing at the top of her USC Law School class and clerking on the Ninth Circuit. LippSmith is also African-American. “I chose CLNP because I believed it offered a chance to do really interesting and challenging work without requiring me to sacrifice my personal life or to compromise my career goals.” With her credentials, LippSmith might have chosen from any large firm. The promise of a more supportive environment and high quality, substantive, hands-on legal work early in her career attracted LippSmith to CLNP. She has not been disappointed.

CLNP Embraces, Rather Than Tolerates, Family Life

My personal experience demonstrates that CLNP's commitment to providing both the highest quality of work and a supportive atmosphere lasts well beyond the recruiting process. I joined CLNP in 1998 and became a shareholder in January 2003. During my time at CLNP I have had three children, who are now five, two, and nine months old.

After graduating from Georgetown Law School, I clerked on the District Court. I planned to begin private practice at the same large Los Angeles-based firm where I had been a summer associate the year before. During my clerkship, I really enjoyed the opportunity to work closely with the judge and began questioning whether a large firm would provide that same experience. About midway through the year, I was intrigued by recruiting material I received from CLNP. The credentials of the attorneys, the matters they handled and their client list was on par with any of the large firms.

For various personal reasons, I decided to begin my career in private practice at the large firm. A year later, I was pregnant with my first child. I had firsthand experience with the demands of the large firm and I didn't know how I would manage work while also parenting the way I wanted. While the large firm offered a part-time option, I hoped to find a way to remain on the partnership track as a full time associate because I wanted to work on the most interesting cases and to perform all types of litigation tasks. It wasn't until then that I fully appreciated what a unique opportunity CLNP provided. When I was 5 months pregnant, CLNP offered me a job, and I enthusiastically accepted.

Nearly 6 years later, my office is full of pictures of my daughters. Toys are stashed for when my children visit. A breast pump sits under my desk. Until recently, a small crib occupied one corner of my office. My third child, Phoebe, was born while I was involved in a fascinating, hotly contested case. I thought staying home for 12 weeks would make it very difficult to keep up with that case. I proposed to return to work full time after 8 weeks of maternity leave and to bring Phoebe to the office. The response from my colleagues was overwhelmingly positive.

For 4 weeks, Phoebe and I came to the office together. If I needed to attend a meeting in the office, there were 20 co-workers who were more than willing to keep an eye on her. When a client came to town, Mike Leslie invited me to dinner with the client and included the baby in the invitation; between dinner and dessert, the client rocked Phoebe to sleep.

My colleagues' unwavering support is, in my view, a result of their dedication to family. Shareholders and associates coach their children in sports and attend school events during the workday. The firm throws a shower for each baby born to or adopted by a firm employee. Everyone understands if a parent is needed at home during the day. I became a shareholder after 6 years of practice including two paid maternity leaves. While the firm has matters involving travel throughout the United States and even internationally, my practice has not required me to be away from home for extended periods of time. Children are an ingrained part of the culture here.

The firm invested in me and my fellow associates, which we all believe will be profitable in the long term. “One mistake the big firms make,” says Pettit, who spent several years both as a Legal Aid lawyer and at O'Melveny and Myers before joining CLNP, “is that they hire smart, qualified people and then place them in circumstances that make it impossible for them to do their best work. We believe that hiring a smaller number of people and really nurturing their talent and enjoyment of litigation results in better quality work. By retaining good lawyers, we keep our clients happy, and they in turn send us more business. It also improves my quality of life to have younger attorneys in the office whom I can trust with delegated tasks, and retaining good people is critical to developing that trust.”

The desire to retain good lawyers is manifested in the firm's management. Work is dictated by the demands of the case and the client's goals. When it is time to work hard, to prepare a motion or take a case to trial, attorneys, paralegals and staff members do what it takes to get the job done and done right. However, CLNP approaches its cases strategically and creatively to develop the most efficient and effective approach and emphasizes the quality, not quantity, of billable hours. Attorneys therefore need not bill 2300 or 2400 hours per year to obtain excellent results (either for clients or to succeed within the firm). CLNP has invested in technology that permits remote access to documents and information and increases the flexibility of work schedules. Attorneys remain available to one another and to clients, but there is no “face time” requirement. The billable hours target for attorneys is 1800 per year. As Joan Mack, our managing shareholder, explains: “That is a real target, not a minimum.”

Along with the firm's “traditional” support for individuals, CLNP makes increasing diversity an ongoing priority. We have implemented a summer associate program focused on reaching minority law students. Mack recently served on the California State Bar Committee on Women in the Law as part of her continued support of women in the legal profession.

CLNP demonstrates that a firm need not choose between excellent candidates, personal and professional satisfaction, and the highest quality of legal work. To the contrary, we believe that the combination of the three has led to excellent results for our clients and a loyal roster of satisfied blue chip clients.

Of the top litigation firms in the country that boast a blue-chip roster of Fortune 100 clients, how many are composed of more than 50% women lawyers, 25% gay or lesbian lawyers, and a Native American shareholder? I only know of one: Caldwell, Leslie, Newcombe and Pettit (CLNP) in Los Angeles.

There are six associates at CLNP (including one completing a clerkship and scheduled to join the firm in the fall). Five are women. Three are women of color. More than 50% of the firm's ownership is held by female or minority shareholders. Two of the women attorneys came to the firm later in life after other careers. All but one of the firm's shareholders have children ranging in age from nine months to 23 years. Many of those children, as a result of cross-cultural adoption or their parents' ethnicities, are racial minorities. The managing shareholder is a lesbian. By any standard applied to American businesses, and especially law firms, the representation of minorities and women at CLNP is remarkable. It is, however, no accident.

Shared Values Lead To A Respectful And Diverse Working Culture

CLNP was formed 15 years ago, when several attorneys then working at a small Los Angeles firm elected not to follow the partners of that firm to the Los Angeles office of a large Wall Street firm. “We felt that a small firm offered a better opportunity to perform high-quality, interesting legal work while at the same time providing an environment of respect for the attorneys as individuals,” says Chris Caldwell, one of the firm's founding members. As CLNP has grown, respect for each individual has remained a cornerstone of its culture.

High Quality Work Attracts Many Candidates

The commitment to culture has facilitated CLNP's efforts both to create a diverse workforce and to attract and perform work of the highest quality. The result is a team of staff members and lawyers whose creative approach to cases is appreciated by clients. At a time when small litigation “boutiques” are increasingly rare, CLNP is flourishing. For example, Mike Leslie, one of the firm's shareholders, notes: “Shell Oil Company recently set out to reduce the number of law firms it uses to increase the efficiency of its legal work. After a nationwide search, it named 27 law firms as 'Strategic Partners.' Only three Los Angeles-based firms made that list. CLNP is one of them.”

CLNP offers an intelligent alternative to big firm practice for clients and attorneys. MaryBeth LippSmith, a second-year associate, came to CLNP after finishing at the top of her USC Law School class and clerking on the Ninth Circuit. LippSmith is also African-American. “I chose CLNP because I believed it offered a chance to do really interesting and challenging work without requiring me to sacrifice my personal life or to compromise my career goals.” With her credentials, LippSmith might have chosen from any large firm. The promise of a more supportive environment and high quality, substantive, hands-on legal work early in her career attracted LippSmith to CLNP. She has not been disappointed.

CLNP Embraces, Rather Than Tolerates, Family Life

My personal experience demonstrates that CLNP's commitment to providing both the highest quality of work and a supportive atmosphere lasts well beyond the recruiting process. I joined CLNP in 1998 and became a shareholder in January 2003. During my time at CLNP I have had three children, who are now five, two, and nine months old.

After graduating from Georgetown Law School, I clerked on the District Court. I planned to begin private practice at the same large Los Angeles-based firm where I had been a summer associate the year before. During my clerkship, I really enjoyed the opportunity to work closely with the judge and began questioning whether a large firm would provide that same experience. About midway through the year, I was intrigued by recruiting material I received from CLNP. The credentials of the attorneys, the matters they handled and their client list was on par with any of the large firms.

For various personal reasons, I decided to begin my career in private practice at the large firm. A year later, I was pregnant with my first child. I had firsthand experience with the demands of the large firm and I didn't know how I would manage work while also parenting the way I wanted. While the large firm offered a part-time option, I hoped to find a way to remain on the partnership track as a full time associate because I wanted to work on the most interesting cases and to perform all types of litigation tasks. It wasn't until then that I fully appreciated what a unique opportunity CLNP provided. When I was 5 months pregnant, CLNP offered me a job, and I enthusiastically accepted.

Nearly 6 years later, my office is full of pictures of my daughters. Toys are stashed for when my children visit. A breast pump sits under my desk. Until recently, a small crib occupied one corner of my office. My third child, Phoebe, was born while I was involved in a fascinating, hotly contested case. I thought staying home for 12 weeks would make it very difficult to keep up with that case. I proposed to return to work full time after 8 weeks of maternity leave and to bring Phoebe to the office. The response from my colleagues was overwhelmingly positive.

For 4 weeks, Phoebe and I came to the office together. If I needed to attend a meeting in the office, there were 20 co-workers who were more than willing to keep an eye on her. When a client came to town, Mike Leslie invited me to dinner with the client and included the baby in the invitation; between dinner and dessert, the client rocked Phoebe to sleep.

My colleagues' unwavering support is, in my view, a result of their dedication to family. Shareholders and associates coach their children in sports and attend school events during the workday. The firm throws a shower for each baby born to or adopted by a firm employee. Everyone understands if a parent is needed at home during the day. I became a shareholder after 6 years of practice including two paid maternity leaves. While the firm has matters involving travel throughout the United States and even internationally, my practice has not required me to be away from home for extended periods of time. Children are an ingrained part of the culture here.

The firm invested in me and my fellow associates, which we all believe will be profitable in the long term. “One mistake the big firms make,” says Pettit, who spent several years both as a Legal Aid lawyer and at O'Melveny and Myers before joining CLNP, “is that they hire smart, qualified people and then place them in circumstances that make it impossible for them to do their best work. We believe that hiring a smaller number of people and really nurturing their talent and enjoyment of litigation results in better quality work. By retaining good lawyers, we keep our clients happy, and they in turn send us more business. It also improves my quality of life to have younger attorneys in the office whom I can trust with delegated tasks, and retaining good people is critical to developing that trust.”

The desire to retain good lawyers is manifested in the firm's management. Work is dictated by the demands of the case and the client's goals. When it is time to work hard, to prepare a motion or take a case to trial, attorneys, paralegals and staff members do what it takes to get the job done and done right. However, CLNP approaches its cases strategically and creatively to develop the most efficient and effective approach and emphasizes the quality, not quantity, of billable hours. Attorneys therefore need not bill 2300 or 2400 hours per year to obtain excellent results (either for clients or to succeed within the firm). CLNP has invested in technology that permits remote access to documents and information and increases the flexibility of work schedules. Attorneys remain available to one another and to clients, but there is no “face time” requirement. The billable hours target for attorneys is 1800 per year. As Joan Mack, our managing shareholder, explains: “That is a real target, not a minimum.”

Along with the firm's “traditional” support for individuals, CLNP makes increasing diversity an ongoing priority. We have implemented a summer associate program focused on reaching minority law students. Mack recently served on the California State Bar Committee on Women in the Law as part of her continued support of women in the legal profession.

CLNP demonstrates that a firm need not choose between excellent candidates, personal and professional satisfaction, and the highest quality of legal work. To the contrary, we believe that the combination of the three has led to excellent results for our clients and a loyal roster of satisfied blue chip clients.