Management 101: The Failure to Communicate

What do you do if you're the three firms who finished at the very bottom of the annual American Lawyer's rankings for associate satisfaction? 

That's what The Wall Street Journal is reporting on today, and while it's not my practice—indeed, I intentionally avoid it 98% of the time—to cite pieces in the WSJ (on the theory that you've all seen the piece already, or shortly will)—this one begs for a brief gloss, if only to comment upon how breathtakingly obvious are the measures these firms are taking.

The firms, all New York-based, I am quite proud to say, are Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle (dead last), Cahill (second to last) and Proskauer (third to last).   What's the gripe?  Essentially, it's all about communication:  The lack thereof.  

One Cahill associate reports (in the original piece in The American Lawyer) that his mentor "just yells at me" when giving quote-unquote feedback.  At Howrey, one offers up this:  "Learn to communicate. It is easier to hack into the CIA computer network than to learn about executive committee decisions that affect everyone." At Proskauer, associates learned about two highly material developments—the opening of a Boston office and the acquisition of litigation boutique Solomon Zauderer—in the press!  (You cannot make this stuff up.)   Another Proskauer associate reports that she came to her annual review prepared to discuss specific, scarcely radical, suggestions for how she could improve her skills (more involvement in depositions, e.g.) and the partner dismissed it all as something she shouldn't trouble herself with "at your level."  It was, she reports, "like talking to dead air."

Now, to the firms' reactions:  What's remarkable is how simple it is to avoid landing in this particular uncomfortable corner, and how the moves the firms are making to address the problem are so elementary they barely qualify as Management 101:

• Cahill Gordon told its associates what the American Lawyer numbers on revenue were likely to show before the piece was published.
• Proskauer held "town-hall" meetings where associates could ask questions of management, and began putting associates in the loop about the firm's finances and strategy.
• Curtis, Mallet initiated quarterly meetings with associates, and invited associate participation on a handful of firm committees.

Essentially, the firms vowed to behave as though associates (a) had opinions (b) which were worth listening to.   Not a bad start, when you consider that, as Roger Meltzer, chair of Cahill's hiring committee, puts it: "Whether they're mid-level or senior associates, they're the next partners of the firm."