It wasn’t long ago that attorneys could sit down to sumptuous lunches inside their firms’ private dining rooms. There, staffers—the paralegals, secretaries and other worker bees crucial to the smooth running of a firm’s operations—were nowhere to be seen.
Nowadays, lawyers and professional staff—whose roles have transformed dramatically over the past two decades—find themselves brushing shoulders midday in firms’ open-access cafeterias. “I don’t know a firm that has a lawyer-only dining room anymore,” says Winston & Strawn chief talent officer Sue Manch.
