Generational Differences: Not the Only Issue

One can scarcely pick up any industry publication and not see 'Working Cohesively Across Generations' as a front-page item. As a member of the Boomer generation, parent of an X'er, a person who for years has interfaced with Ys as a mentor, and who frequently donates charitable time to Traditionalists, the question 'So what?' presses during my contemplative times. How have we become so focused on whom we hire, promote, and retain, and in the process, lost sight of the needs of the clients we serve or solicit?

Sending Mixed Messages

Before your firm redecorates with metal bead-chain drapes, installs a barista station in reception, or equips all new attorneys with balance ball chairs, consider the consequences of generational pandering on the real work expected from existing institutional clients. Firms that entice new lawyers with internships and summer programs that are filled with dinner catamaran cruises, wally-ball game nights, or tours of a client's surf gear distribution center, rather than honest dialogues about personally motivating law practices and opportunities for community pro bono initiatives, get exactly what they ask for ' narrowly focused, self-serving, short-timers.

Why is it that judicial clerkships or Fortune 50 legal externships never require hiring incentives?

When recruiting new associates, it can be alluring to laud your client list as having a 'rock star' profile. It is completely different to examine the legal services required by those same clients. The work product reality (or perceived deception) can have an adverse effect on a firm's attorney retention record. Consider published attorney biographies that have extensive lists of client successes, and show little or no civic or charitable involvement. Which audience does this information impress the most? There should be a balance to impress both potential clients and potential new hires, especially if the attorney is acting as a supervisor or mentor.

Old Book: New Title

Every generation has its motivational gurus. Be it Freud, Maslow, Dale Carnegie, Tom Peters, or Deepak Chopra you can be sure there's another perspective waiting around the corner. While work ethic or management style approaches may evolve, what remains constant is the need for legal services to litigate, merge, protect, or formally register clients' civil, criminal, intellectual/ real property, or regulatory matters.

Not so long ago, time management was high on the list of new attorney 'must learns.' Has this skill fallen off the radar in lieu of an effort to retain talent? Is prioritizing and accounting for client-related time a law school subject that has infiltrated the curriculum while we weren't watching? Some call it multi-tasking, while others call it integrated research. The greater question is: 'Does the client benefit?' While there is a cost-benefit element that relates to future work product, examining the hours that a partner writes off as non-billable time justifies or negates its value. We want to invest in new talent, but we need not reinforce diversion as an acceptable consequence.

Paying attention and giving constructive feedback is not a generation-specific activity. Nor is it a position-specific perk. All firm employees, from the docket clerks to the managing partners, deserve honest, regular appraisals delivered in a respectful manner. Firms that only voice dissatisfaction with work product are asking for the shopping center crowd to practice what they learned while very young, to use the revolving door.

Scripting the Differences

Well-intentioned, firm-consciousness-raising efforts to explore/ enlighten/explain generational differences can be a slippery slope. Informational presentations that include politically charged images which characterize specific generations, while using clich'd media excerpts to denote another cannot only be offensive, but also may leave an entire room of talented, motivated, creative firm assets feeling compartmentalized with limited potential. What may seem humorous to one generation may not be laughable for another.

Technology's Defining Influence

Advances in technology and the utilization and understanding of those advances can be the most generationally defining influence. For example, attorneys who have a strong desire for travel to foreign offices often find it difficult to accept new trends in distance conferencing or learning. Utilizing video or same-time meeting methods not only lowers client costs, but also provides participants with a comfortable, local meeting environment. Emphasizing cost savings and comfort, and not the new technology, is a preferred approach to changing communication methods that enhance client services or educational needs, and eliminates generational comparisons.

A partner, who, under duress, decides to abandon daily fax transmissions in favor of a PDA device, deserves recognition, training, and implementation patience. Looking up the ladder, new associates need to recognize that embracing the latest technology by those born decades before is an adaptation mindset, not an intrinsic skill set. Is there a difference in end-results between attorneys using a chalkboard or those using a SmartBoard when making a point to a client or a jury?

Give and Take

As counterintuitive as it may seem, asking senior attorneys to mentor new associates is not always what a firm needs. Ask instead, 'What do these young minds bring to the practice that seasoned attorneys need to know?' Perhaps it is the young attorneys, who are more in tune with leading-edge or new, entrepreneurial businesses, who become the rainmakers in need of the expertise of experienced partners. A paradigm shift? You better believe it! Who wants to admit to being the attorney who declined to represent Bill Gates at age 21, when entering into a licensing agreement with IBM?

How many of the top-of-their-class new associate hires have friends who diverted their legal careers to become in-house counsel for major corporations or skyrocketing service providers? Will those in-house friends ever need the services of outside counsel? Who should they call? At the end of the day, it's the firm's revenues, no matter the client base, that drive partnership opportunities.

What's in the Numbers?

While reading recent legal Web site press releases, I learned that one of the world's largest law firms has announced the addition of 46 new partners in 2008. Thirteen of those 46 new partners are in foreign (non-North American) offices. The youngest of the 46 is age 32. The firm's main (larger) competitor has announced the addition of 10 new partners in 2008, without mention of ages or international office promotions. These informational press releases send loud-and-clear messages to prospective clients and attorney candidates.

Do marketing efforts such as these display diversity, accountability, or suitability? To which audience? Or, do they send messages of exclusivity, profitability, and justifiability as a means of defending a firm's reputation? It is another delicate balancing act that may require focus groups with generational import.

Not the Final Word on the Subject

Who among us wants to admit to accepting the last word on any given subject? The wheels of a legal mind are always in motion. It is the responsibility of every legal professional to look for every possible alternative in any situation. Every generation has its speedy model, as well as its dependability model. What makes the vehicle appropriate for the task is the preference of the client. Reaching out across the lines of diversity, be it age, culture, or physicality, needs to be the standard, not the exception. If we cease discussing our differences, they become more pronounced. The more distinct our differences, the less comfortable we feel in staying in the same place. That comfort level motivates the actions of clients and attorneys alike.

Paula Campbell specializes in legal-specific software technical training. She has spent more than 18 years observing the diverse cultural, economic, and personnel aspects of various sizes and types of law firms. Campbell can be reached at mailto:[email protected].

One can scarcely pick up any industry publication and not see 'Working Cohesively Across Generations' as a front-page item. As a member of the Boomer generation, parent of an X'er, a person who for years has interfaced with Ys as a mentor, and who frequently donates charitable time to Traditionalists, the question 'So what?' presses during my contemplative times. How have we become so focused on whom we hire, promote, and retain, and in the process, lost sight of the needs of the clients we serve or solicit?

Sending Mixed Messages

Before your firm redecorates with metal bead-chain drapes, installs a barista station in reception, or equips all new attorneys with balance ball chairs, consider the consequences of generational pandering on the real work expected from existing institutional clients. Firms that entice new lawyers with internships and summer programs that are filled with dinner catamaran cruises, wally-ball game nights, or tours of a client's surf gear distribution center, rather than honest dialogues about personally motivating law practices and opportunities for community pro bono initiatives, get exactly what they ask for ' narrowly focused, self-serving, short-timers.

Why is it that judicial clerkships or Fortune 50 legal externships never require hiring incentives?

When recruiting new associates, it can be alluring to laud your client list as having a 'rock star' profile. It is completely different to examine the legal services required by those same clients. The work product reality (or perceived deception) can have an adverse effect on a firm's attorney retention record. Consider published attorney biographies that have extensive lists of client successes, and show little or no civic or charitable involvement. Which audience does this information impress the most? There should be a balance to impress both potential clients and potential new hires, especially if the attorney is acting as a supervisor or mentor.

Old Book: New Title

Every generation has its motivational gurus. Be it Freud, Maslow, Dale Carnegie, Tom Peters, or Deepak Chopra you can be sure there's another perspective waiting around the corner. While work ethic or management style approaches may evolve, what remains constant is the need for legal services to litigate, merge, protect, or formally register clients' civil, criminal, intellectual/ real property, or regulatory matters.

Not so long ago, time management was high on the list of new attorney 'must learns.' Has this skill fallen off the radar in lieu of an effort to retain talent? Is prioritizing and accounting for client-related time a law school subject that has infiltrated the curriculum while we weren't watching? Some call it multi-tasking, while others call it integrated research. The greater question is: 'Does the client benefit?' While there is a cost-benefit element that relates to future work product, examining the hours that a partner writes off as non-billable time justifies or negates its value. We want to invest in new talent, but we need not reinforce diversion as an acceptable consequence.

Paying attention and giving constructive feedback is not a generation-specific activity. Nor is it a position-specific perk. All firm employees, from the docket clerks to the managing partners, deserve honest, regular appraisals delivered in a respectful manner. Firms that only voice dissatisfaction with work product are asking for the shopping center crowd to practice what they learned while very young, to use the revolving door.

Scripting the Differences

Well-intentioned, firm-consciousness-raising efforts to explore/ enlighten/explain generational differences can be a slippery slope. Informational presentations that include politically charged images which characterize specific generations, while using clich'd media excerpts to denote another cannot only be offensive, but also may leave an entire room of talented, motivated, creative firm assets feeling compartmentalized with limited potential. What may seem humorous to one generation may not be laughable for another.

Technology's Defining Influence

Advances in technology and the utilization and understanding of those advances can be the most generationally defining influence. For example, attorneys who have a strong desire for travel to foreign offices often find it difficult to accept new trends in distance conferencing or learning. Utilizing video or same-time meeting methods not only lowers client costs, but also provides participants with a comfortable, local meeting environment. Emphasizing cost savings and comfort, and not the new technology, is a preferred approach to changing communication methods that enhance client services or educational needs, and eliminates generational comparisons.

A partner, who, under duress, decides to abandon daily fax transmissions in favor of a PDA device, deserves recognition, training, and implementation patience. Looking up the ladder, new associates need to recognize that embracing the latest technology by those born decades before is an adaptation mindset, not an intrinsic skill set. Is there a difference in end-results between attorneys using a chalkboard or those using a SmartBoard when making a point to a client or a jury?

Give and Take

As counterintuitive as it may seem, asking senior attorneys to mentor new associates is not always what a firm needs. Ask instead, 'What do these young minds bring to the practice that seasoned attorneys need to know?' Perhaps it is the young attorneys, who are more in tune with leading-edge or new, entrepreneurial businesses, who become the rainmakers in need of the expertise of experienced partners. A paradigm shift? You better believe it! Who wants to admit to being the attorney who declined to represent Bill Gates at age 21, when entering into a licensing agreement with IBM?

How many of the top-of-their-class new associate hires have friends who diverted their legal careers to become in-house counsel for major corporations or skyrocketing service providers? Will those in-house friends ever need the services of outside counsel? Who should they call? At the end of the day, it's the firm's revenues, no matter the client base, that drive partnership opportunities.

What's in the Numbers?

While reading recent legal Web site press releases, I learned that one of the world's largest law firms has announced the addition of 46 new partners in 2008. Thirteen of those 46 new partners are in foreign (non-North American) offices. The youngest of the 46 is age 32. The firm's main (larger) competitor has announced the addition of 10 new partners in 2008, without mention of ages or international office promotions. These informational press releases send loud-and-clear messages to prospective clients and attorney candidates.

Do marketing efforts such as these display diversity, accountability, or suitability? To which audience? Or, do they send messages of exclusivity, profitability, and justifiability as a means of defending a firm's reputation? It is another delicate balancing act that may require focus groups with generational import.

Not the Final Word on the Subject

Who among us wants to admit to accepting the last word on any given subject? The wheels of a legal mind are always in motion. It is the responsibility of every legal professional to look for every possible alternative in any situation. Every generation has its speedy model, as well as its dependability model. What makes the vehicle appropriate for the task is the preference of the client. Reaching out across the lines of diversity, be it age, culture, or physicality, needs to be the standard, not the exception. If we cease discussing our differences, they become more pronounced. The more distinct our differences, the less comfortable we feel in staying in the same place. That comfort level motivates the actions of clients and attorneys alike.

Paula Campbell specializes in legal-specific software technical training. She has spent more than 18 years observing the diverse cultural, economic, and personnel aspects of various sizes and types of law firms. Campbell can be reached at mailto:[email protected].