Clint Stevenson, Latham & Watkins: 1924--2006

From a New York-based Latham & Watkins partner whom I consider a friend comes word for those of you who may have missed it that Clint Stevenson, the firm's Managing Partner from 1967 through 1989, died on March 31, 2006 in Los Angeles, California at the age of 82.

It is my loss that I never met Clint, and at this point the best all of us can do is to pause a moment and consider his legacy.  As the Latham memorial puts it: 

"Clint was long recognized within the profession as one of the great law firm leaders. He was at the forefront of the movement that transformed firms such as ours from local firms into major national and international institutions. Equally important to the Latham family, Clint was instrumental in creating and nurturing the internal management systems and firm culture that have made Latham & Watkins unique among law firms. He also was a great lawyer, a trusted advisor to clients, and a true gentleman. Clint retired from the partnership in December 1993, leaving a tremendous legacy to all of us."

Clint joined Latham out of Harvard Law School in 1950, and during his 22-year tenure as Managing Partner (1967—1989), the firm grew from 34 lawyers in LA to 360 lawyers in LA, Orange County, Washington, DC, San Diego, Chicago, and New York.  

That achievement might be enough for most mortals, but Clint's legacy cannot be quantitatively grasped.  Key to his vision was a leadership style that was both strikingly inclusive—imagine putting associates on the committee that recommends associates for admission to partnership!—and radical among other elite law firm leaders.   Not the finger-in-the-air conformist:  "I had a lot of ideas that I wanted to do in the firm -- some of them different from what law firms were doing as far as I could see," Clint told The American Lawyer in 1986.

Those of you who've followed "Adam Smith, Esq." for any period of time know that I'm a staunch advocate of "individuals make the times, the times don't make individuals" (e.g., "The Power of One," and "Who Will Be Your Successor?").   So to my mind the Clint Stevenson story is worth studying.

Essential to his vision, drawing from his undergraduate sports experience, was instilling the notion and the practice of teamwork across the firm.  That, and a sense of ownership of the firm shared by everyone from senior partners to newly-arrived associates, propelled Latham to where it is today. 

My friend reports:  "I remember in the 80's (Clint and I overlapped only by a few years), even a lateral associate hire in NY required an interview in LA."

Clint was a nonconformist in other ways (which, by the way, won Latham accolades from authorities such as the [MIT] Sloan Management Review as "best managed law firm").   For a not-trivial example, he instituted 15-year strategic plans.  His from 1986 projected 1,035 lawyers in the firm in 2001—which was off by about 10.

Again, from my friend's perspective, who saw it from the inside, you gain an inkling of the indelible mark Clint left:

"What drew me to Latham was its clear vision of what it wanted to be and where it wanted to go. Very few firms have that. In addition, Latham had a clear plan.  Not only did management have at that time rolling 5 year plan and a 15 year projection, but it shared those plans with every partner and every associate. These were detailed, numerical projections on the number of lawyers, recruitment class sizes, number of partners, etc. At our annual firm business meeting, these plans would be discussed and actively debated by associates as well as the partners. Clint created a tradition where associates are involved in every major committee that runs this firm other than the executive committee.

"How many firms have a detailed 15 year projection? How many firms checked to see how they did after 15 years? Finally, how many of those projections turned out to be right? Last year, AmLaw wrote an article about our NY office's success. It came out with four reasons for that success. Personally, I disagree. There was one reason, and one reason only - Latham had a strategic vision and a plan and we were competing against firms that did not."

If your firm is in the "not" camp, it still may not be too late.  But Clint was there 40 years ago.