Accepting the OMP Role: Financial and Practice Impacts

E-mail surveys were sent to 39 office managing partners in the San Francisco Bay Area at Cal Law 25 and Am Law 100 firms ' all large multi-office firms. Twenty-three returned the surveys, all from offices with more than 25 lawyers.

Questions in the survey addressed four overall topics.

• Generally, how does the change in workload stack up against salary?
• More specifically, how do those factors balance for individuals?
• What does the office managing partner do all day, anyway?
• Does managing the office help or hurt a practice?

Changing Managerial Roles

On average, office managing partners say they spend about 25% of their time managing and 75% practicing law. OMPs report that they spend the most nonpracticing time on business development and marketing, followed closely by strategic planning for the office, recruiting, and ' trailing distantly ' giving input on compensation and advancement.

In recent years, firms have shifted their power centers. More substantive decisions regarding billing rates, compensation, and advancement now belong to the practice group.

'In terms of having a significant say in the long-term destiny of the law firm, practice group management is more in that position,' says Thomas Kellerman, 52, who heads Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP's 55-lawyer Palo Alto, CA, office and co-chairs the firm's emerging business and technology practice.

Similarly, Jonathan Hayden, head of Heller Ehrman LLP's San Francisco office, says he used to oversee associate assignments and reviews. He also used to have the final say over adjusting and reducing bills for clients. Now all that is handled by practice group management. 'What's left of the [OMP] job,' he says, 'is being sort of the cultural leader both internally and externally.'

On the other hand, Paul Glad, Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP's longtime San Francisco OMP, emphasizes that 'nothing can replace on-site management and being able to act quickly on opportunities.'

While practice group and firm leaders tend to set the direction and push for growth, managing a single office is more about maintaining stability, says Larry Richard, a leadership-development consultant with Hildebrandt International, Inc. in Philadelphia. 'If every day I come into the office and I ask, 'How is everything?' and people say, 'Nothing out of the ordinary,' I heave a sigh of relief and say I'm doing my [OMP] job well. Whereas leadership is about change, ferment, and uncertainty ' it's not about making the trains run on time.'

Exactly how the office managing partner's role plays out depends, however, on whether that office is new, newly combined, or well-established. Kellerman came to Morgan Lewis in 2003 to build an entirely new office for the firm in Silicon Valley with the pieces of his old firm, Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison. That meant an emphasis on client pitches, recruiting, and generally raising the firm's profile in the Valley.

Effects on Practice

Office managing partners consistently list cutting billable-hours requirements as a huge factor in making the position work. 'It takes some of the pressure off,' says Sonnenschein's Glad. The 57-year-old rainmaker says he bills about 1,500 client hours a year ' the partner requirement is 1,950 ' and spends 800 or more hours on management, which includes heading the office and sitting on firmwide policy and planning committees.

Robert Mittelstaedt, who heads Jones Day's San Francisco office, reports the highest percentage of time devoted to practice: 95%. On the other end of the spectrum, some OMPs with multiple management roles practice less than half the time.

'My practice volume has increased since I took the job as office managing partner,' says David Anderson, 45, of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP. 'In the Pillsbury system, being office managing partner is an indication of the confidence the firm has in a younger leader, and to clients and prospective clients this is someone who has the respect and full command of the resources of the firm.'

The tension between managing and lawyering is a common theme among those surveyed, but only 14% say it hurt their practices; 38% say it didn't affect their practices; and 48% say it actually helped their practices.

Even those who say their practice has suffered aren't necessarily in a panic. 'Sure, it's hurt my practice some,' writes one office managing partner. 'I can't bill as much time as I used to, and therefore have a less direct role in litigating matters. It will obviously take some time to reload, but I don't expect a prolonged recovery.'

And then there are the upsides to running the office.

'It's helped in the sense I see more opportunities because I am a known quantity with the rest of the firm,' one new office managing partner says.

'It's definitely helped. Clients know when you run a business, you become more attuned to a business like theirs,' says Charles Birenbaum, who heads Winston & Strawn LLP's San Francisco office. And there's the ability to bond over shared miseries. 'My clients sometimes share the pains and challenges of management,' he says.

OMP Compensation

Getting on the law firm management track does not mean riding the gravy train. The survey asks whether office management is a plus factor in compensation. Only 26% of respondents give an unqualified 'yes.' (Another 26% aren't sure or say it's a negligible addition; 17% say it's not a factor at all; 17% say that it depends on their performance as a manager; and 14% don't answer.)

'It's a hornets' nest with respect to compensation, so rather than deal with it, a lot of firms say, 'Thank you very much ' we hope you enjoy the prestige and power, but we're going to pay you the same way we compensate other partners,” says Wendy Tice-Wallner, a former chairwoman of Littler Mendelson. 'Law firms complain about not having leaders, and at the same time they hesitate in paying for leaders. As a result, you can suppress potential leaders.'

Conversely, Littler's Hill notes that, when firms do significantly compensate office management, it can cause bad blood among lawyers in the office. 'I put in a lot of time that's not really compensated by the firm, but on the other hand, you have firms where it's done to an unhealthy degree,' he says. 'That can breed resentment among lawyers ' we avoid that here.'

Accepting the OMP Position

So if it's not money and it's not power, why does anyone take the job?

For a few, it's a new career track. Sonja Weissman has headed Reed Smith's Oakland, CA, office for nearly five years and says she wouldn't mind continuing in management. 'Because it's so big, there are lots of different management roles at Reed Smith.'

For others, call it taking one for the team.

'I hadn't wanted to do it, particularly, and it took a little bit of time to persuade me,' says Ken Kuwayti, who heads Morrison & Foerster's Palo Alto office. 'You just feel a responsibility to the firm and the office, and that's important to me.'

Similarly, says Littler Mendelson's Hill, '[Being at this firm] has been my career, so it seems fair to put in a few years. But it's definitely not something I would do indefinitely.'

Yet Heller's Hayden notes with a laugh, 'It's not truly a thankless job, because everybody says, 'Thank God you're doing that.”

Epilogue

Reed Smith's Oakland office managing partner Sonja Weissman, quoted in the survey as enjoying her OMP role, has since been appointed to lead the firm's 65-lawyer Northern California Commercial Litigation practice. In her new role, she'll be handling more substantive business decisions such as approving new matters and alternative billing rates. She'll also have a direct hand in recruiting, associate evaluation, and promotion.

This article has been abridged and adapted for A&FP.

Zusha Elinson writes for California's daily legal newspaper The Recorder, an affiliate of this newsletter.

If gratitude is measured in dollars, office managing partners ('OMPs') are a bit taken for granted. In an informal Recorder survey of San Francisco Bay Area office managing partners, 70% say they work more than when they practiced law exclusively. But only 22% say they are earning more than before they took the post.

'It's like a huge pro bono commitment,' says Richard Hill, who heads Littler Mendelson P.C.'s 77-lawyer San Francisco office.

The Survey

E-mail surveys were sent to 39 office managing partners in the San Francisco Bay Area at Cal Law 25 and Am Law 100 firms ' all large multi-office firms. Twenty-three returned the surveys, all from offices with more than 25 lawyers.

Questions in the survey addressed four overall topics.

• Generally, how does the change in workload stack up against salary?
• More specifically, how do those factors balance for individuals?
• What does the office managing partner do all day, anyway?
• Does managing the office help or hurt a practice?

Changing Managerial Roles

On average, office managing partners say they spend about 25% of their time managing and 75% practicing law. OMPs report that they spend the most nonpracticing time on business development and marketing, followed closely by strategic planning for the office, recruiting, and ' trailing distantly ' giving input on compensation and advancement.

In recent years, firms have shifted their power centers. More substantive decisions regarding billing rates, compensation, and advancement now belong to the practice group.

'In terms of having a significant say in the long-term destiny of the law firm, practice group management is more in that position,' says Thomas Kellerman, 52, who heads Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP's 55-lawyer Palo Alto, CA, office and co-chairs the firm's emerging business and technology practice.

Similarly, Jonathan Hayden, head of Heller Ehrman LLP's San Francisco office, says he used to oversee associate assignments and reviews. He also used to have the final say over adjusting and reducing bills for clients. Now all that is handled by practice group management. 'What's left of the [OMP] job,' he says, 'is being sort of the cultural leader both internally and externally.'

On the other hand, Paul Glad, Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP's longtime San Francisco OMP, emphasizes that 'nothing can replace on-site management and being able to act quickly on opportunities.'

While practice group and firm leaders tend to set the direction and push for growth, managing a single office is more about maintaining stability, says Larry Richard, a leadership-development consultant with Hildebrandt International, Inc. in Philadelphia. 'If every day I come into the office and I ask, 'How is everything?' and people say, 'Nothing out of the ordinary,' I heave a sigh of relief and say I'm doing my [OMP] job well. Whereas leadership is about change, ferment, and uncertainty ' it's not about making the trains run on time.'

Exactly how the office managing partner's role plays out depends, however, on whether that office is new, newly combined, or well-established. Kellerman came to Morgan Lewis in 2003 to build an entirely new office for the firm in Silicon Valley with the pieces of his old firm, Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison. That meant an emphasis on client pitches, recruiting, and generally raising the firm's profile in the Valley.

Effects on Practice

Office managing partners consistently list cutting billable-hours requirements as a huge factor in making the position work. 'It takes some of the pressure off,' says Sonnenschein's Glad. The 57-year-old rainmaker says he bills about 1,500 client hours a year ' the partner requirement is 1,950 ' and spends 800 or more hours on management, which includes heading the office and sitting on firmwide policy and planning committees.

Robert Mittelstaedt, who heads Jones Day's San Francisco office, reports the highest percentage of time devoted to practice: 95%. On the other end of the spectrum, some OMPs with multiple management roles practice less than half the time.

'My practice volume has increased since I took the job as office managing partner,' says David Anderson, 45, of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP. 'In the Pillsbury system, being office managing partner is an indication of the confidence the firm has in a younger leader, and to clients and prospective clients this is someone who has the respect and full command of the resources of the firm.'

The tension between managing and lawyering is a common theme among those surveyed, but only 14% say it hurt their practices; 38% say it didn't affect their practices; and 48% say it actually helped their practices.

Even those who say their practice has suffered aren't necessarily in a panic. 'Sure, it's hurt my practice some,' writes one office managing partner. 'I can't bill as much time as I used to, and therefore have a less direct role in litigating matters. It will obviously take some time to reload, but I don't expect a prolonged recovery.'

And then there are the upsides to running the office.

'It's helped in the sense I see more opportunities because I am a known quantity with the rest of the firm,' one new office managing partner says.

'It's definitely helped. Clients know when you run a business, you become more attuned to a business like theirs,' says Charles Birenbaum, who heads Winston & Strawn LLP's San Francisco office. And there's the ability to bond over shared miseries. 'My clients sometimes share the pains and challenges of management,' he says.

OMP Compensation

Getting on the law firm management track does not mean riding the gravy train. The survey asks whether office management is a plus factor in compensation. Only 26% of respondents give an unqualified 'yes.' (Another 26% aren't sure or say it's a negligible addition; 17% say it's not a factor at all; 17% say that it depends on their performance as a manager; and 14% don't answer.)

'It's a hornets' nest with respect to compensation, so rather than deal with it, a lot of firms say, 'Thank you very much ' we hope you enjoy the prestige and power, but we're going to pay you the same way we compensate other partners,” says Wendy Tice-Wallner, a former chairwoman of Littler Mendelson. 'Law firms complain about not having leaders, and at the same time they hesitate in paying for leaders. As a result, you can suppress potential leaders.'

Conversely, Littler's Hill notes that, when firms do significantly compensate office management, it can cause bad blood among lawyers in the office. 'I put in a lot of time that's not really compensated by the firm, but on the other hand, you have firms where it's done to an unhealthy degree,' he says. 'That can breed resentment among lawyers ' we avoid that here.'

Accepting the OMP Position

So if it's not money and it's not power, why does anyone take the job?

For a few, it's a new career track. Sonja Weissman has headed Reed Smith's Oakland, CA, office for nearly five years and says she wouldn't mind continuing in management. 'Because it's so big, there are lots of different management roles at Reed Smith.'

For others, call it taking one for the team.

'I hadn't wanted to do it, particularly, and it took a little bit of time to persuade me,' says Ken Kuwayti, who heads Morrison & Foerster's Palo Alto office. 'You just feel a responsibility to the firm and the office, and that's important to me.'

Similarly, says Littler Mendelson's Hill, '[Being at this firm] has been my career, so it seems fair to put in a few years. But it's definitely not something I would do indefinitely.'

Yet Heller's Hayden notes with a laugh, 'It's not truly a thankless job, because everybody says, 'Thank God you're doing that.”

Epilogue

Reed Smith's Oakland office managing partner Sonja Weissman, quoted in the survey as enjoying her OMP role, has since been appointed to lead the firm's 65-lawyer Northern California Commercial Litigation practice. In her new role, she'll be handling more substantive business decisions such as approving new matters and alternative billing rates. She'll also have a direct hand in recruiting, associate evaluation, and promotion.

This article has been abridged and adapted for A&FP.

Zusha Elinson writes for California's daily legal newspaper The Recorder, an affiliate of this newsletter.