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Accounting and Financial Planning for Law FirmsFeaturesCareer DevelopmentLaw Firm Marketing and Business DevelopmentLegal Operations

Make Law Firm Culture Part of the Equation In a Potential Career Move

By Sharon Meit Abrahams
August 01, 2021

I have been conducting exit interviews for over 20 years. It's amazing what can be learned about a law firm or legal department by asking those who have left about their experience. Everything from personnel issues to systemic malfunctions have been uncovered, but most important is the organizations' culture. When you are looking to make a career move, be sure to learn about the potential employer's culture before you accept an offer. It is important to select not only a great place to work, but a place that is the right choice for you as an individual.

There are many definitions to "culture." In a Harvard Business Review article, John Coleman describes the six components of a great corporate culture as vision, values, practices, people, narrative and place. While it's easy to observe components of culture such as people, practices and place, it's more difficult to see the intangibles such as values, vision and narrative. Arguably, the intangibles are the important factors for you to understand as these are what will drive your success. (See, "Six Components of a Great Corporate Culture.")

While culture includes the values of an employer, it is not the values written on a poster or webpage. It is the values the lawyers feel on a daily basis. It is the assumptions lawyers make when making decisions. It is the history they have experienced. It is the real behaviors that fuel the organization's success and serves as a competitive advantage. This is what you will want to understand during the recruiting process.

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