Law firm managers have become used to being told of the need for them to develop a deeper understanding of the values and culture of their firm. Even so, many fail to realise just how important it is for them to refer to that culture when devising the firm’s longer term business plan. Is culture really any more than a soft issue, a ‘nice to have’? Or does it signify something deeper that firms and their leadership teams ignore at their peril?
To answer this, it is worth going back to the basic question of how exactly a partnership should be defined. As every law student knows, a partnership is an association of two or more people who agree to share in the profits and losses of a business venture. Some of those involved in law firm management use this definition to remind the members of their firm that a partnership is first and foremost a business and that profitability underpins what every firm is trying to achieve. Because a partnership is also by its nature a group of people, it is equally fundamental that those people have to work together effectively if they are to be successful. Merely placing a group of people together in a common workplace does not in itself achieve this – that is dependent on culture and shared common values.
