Law firms never used to talk about their ‘culture’. But when US firms started, UK firms followed. Now, all the big firms talk about their cultures, but US firms still do so more publicly and enthusiastically.
Yet for many, the reimagining of certain kick-ass US law firms as benign communities of mutual well-wishers sits uncomfortably with the reality of PEP-obsessed hire-and-fire culture. ‘Since 2020, we have seen an acceleration in a certain kind of magical thinking in some law firms,’ observes our insider, ‘where they will their cultural vision into being through messaging, rather than reflecting what’s really there.’
Could this be a case of ‘protesting too much’? ‘The more you talk about “culture”, the more of a red flag it is,’ says one anonymous US firm insider. ‘Firms with genuinely strong cultures don’t need to talk about it to make it real.’
In this series, the Gazette has previously looked at two areas where US firms could learn from their UK counterparts: infrastructure and entrepreneurialism. Now we will turn to firm culture: both the claims made about it and the tripwires it can set off
Many emphasised how their ‘strong culture of community’ helped them to push through, showcased through internal newsletters and social media posts. It became more common for firms to comment on the news cycle, rather than just legal practice, using news developments as a way to reflect positively on their own cultures.
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