How would you define your firm’s culture?
Our firm was founded in the US in 1979 by a group of lawyers, staff, and clients who left a large corporate firm because they believed in doing things differently. Four decades later, this belief is still a cornerstone of the firm’s culture. Our Brussels office was started in 1999, and has become a family within the family, where staff and attorneys work together in a cohesive, collaborative way. We find that it results in smart, down-to-earth professionals who embrace the challenge of practicing sophisticated, complex law.
Our professionals value having a life outside of work and always treat clients the way they themselves would like to be treated. It should therefore come as no surprise that Crowell & Moring takes great pride in the fact that when new lawyers in any Crowell & Moring office are asked why they joined the firm, the people and the culture are always among the top reasons.
What’s the main change you’ve made in the firm in the past few years that will benefit clients?
Our legal project management programme (LPM) is much more than a necessary response to expanding business risks and shrinking legal-services budgets. It is a framework for providing top-notch legal counsel and litigation services in a manner that ensures predictability, accountability and efficiency. We have developed a suite of in-house LPM tools and mandated their use for certain types of clients and engagements.
Legal project management is not a new development at Crowell & Moring, and many LPM processes and best practices have been in use at the firm for years. What distinguishes our LPM programme today is the creation and implementation of our linked, proprietary tools: Matter Planning and Matter Management.
Our Matter Planning tool is the foundation of our LPM system. Developed in tandem with our in-house information technology department and legal practice leaders, Matter Planning features the ability to create a budget or to use a suite of customisable templates that enable the input of key engagement data: statement of work (desired legal outcome(s) from the client’s perspective, key assumptions to develop the budget, what’s in scope and out-of-scope, constraints and risks), timekeeper resources, and various pricing scenarios to develop realistic budgets based on the particular facts and circumstances of each matter.
Matter Management is a flexible, intuitive tool that enables input, review, analysis and reporting of legal project data. Our IT department worked closely with firm partners, counsel, associates, and paralegals to identify the information that is most important in helping them manage and complete even the most complex client projects. Client input and feedback is equally important, and we spoke to a number of in-house counsel to better understand and incorporate their information requirements.
Our Matter Management system enables our lawyers and paralegals to monitor actual hours and time-value progress against budgeted amounts and milestones. We are able to update and track tasks and deliverables by person responsible, add important dates to a shared calendar and set upcoming alerts, maintain discussions between team members and project participants, log open issues and track them to resolution, and produce effective, understandable reports.
When a project or matter is concluded, it is not yet complete. Matter Management further enables us to track lessons learned and conduct post-mortem analyses so that we can improve our processes and develop additional best practices that reduce client risk and improve satisfaction.
When our clients succeed, we succeed. LPM helps us achieve this common goal.
What are the biggest challenges facing firms of your size in Belgium?
For a law firm of the size of our Belgian office, the challenges lie in growth and in establishing the processes needed to accompany this growth whilst remaining agile. Most firms, and companies, face an uphill battle once they hit a certain size. The struggle is about taking the next step towards becoming a mid-sized law firm in Belgium and finding the people with the right attitude to join. And once they’ve joined, the struggle consists in setting up processes and procedures to uphold the required professional level, without jeopardising the present agile culture.
What have you found is the best way to retain talented partners and associates?
The most important factor in retaining people – whether associates, partners, or staff – is ‘firm culture’. Excellent coaching, exciting matters, great client encounters and high tech are almost a given these days. What you want to strive for (and what we have established) is an open culture in which every individual can thrive and be a member of several multi-purpose teams. Also, the current generation wants to be involved in (the organisation of) the firm. We incite people to take initiative, to come with new ideas and to, collaboratively, realise as much as possible. It’s because of this undefined ‘firm culture’ that people want to stay aboard.
What are your firm’s policies on diversity and inclusion?
Diversity is, for us, about creating a culture of inclusion. We are a multinational firm that embraces different backgrounds, ideas, traditions, and perspectives. In January 2019, we were part of the launch of the Brussels-based Legal Diversity & Inclusion Alliance (LDIA) of which we are a founding member. We are committed to creating a workplace where there is no room for discrimination or prejudice.
At Crowell & Moring, people are recognised for their unique talents, backgrounds, and perspectives. Our commitment to diversity and inclusion takes the form of a pledge to eliminate discrimination in the workplace, to promote an inclusive organisational culture, and to take tangible actions to fulfil our mission. We strongly believe that combining our efforts will greatly aid our progress towards achieving these goals.
In 2017, Crowell & Moring provided unconscious bias training for those in leadership positions, including the management board, practice group leaders, the lawyer development and recruiting committees, and senior staff members. We also hosted the firm’s inaugural Diversity & Inclusion Retreat, which brought together more than 70 of the firm’s LGBTQ+ attorneys and attorneys of colour for two days of business, professional, and networking development opportunities. In the spirit of continued dialogue, we also worked with external consultants to create diversity dialogues, in which almost 300 lawyers and staff participated in small group discussions, designed to be a safe forum for exploring how current events and other external issues affect internal firm dynamics.
In 2018, the firm launched Sponsorship 2.0 – Yearly Cohort, building on our foundation of sponsorship (original pilot in 2012). We have collaborated with an external consultant to create an opportunity for 36 of our lawyers – associates, counsel, and partners – to participate in sponsorship circles, including workshops and informal gatherings, over six months in 2018. Circles focus on inclusivity of women and diverse lawyers, consisting of two sponsors (partners) and two protégés (mid-level associate or counsel) that are strong performers, from a broad range of practice areas and geographic locations. We have also committed to abide by the Mansfield Rule, as part of the Diversity Lab’s Mansfield Rule 2.0 initiative, which will further drive our efforts to ensure that we have diverse individuals under consideration for firm leadership positions, in lateral recruiting, and for promotions.
More recently, Chambers Associate ranked Crowell & Moring fifth for ‘Best Firms for Diversity’ in its 2018 survey (among 40 leading firms); Law360 ranked Crowell & Moring fifth in its 2018 Diversity Snapshot for ‘Best Law Firms for Minority Attorneys’ in the 300–599 lawyers category; and Vault ranked Crowell & Moring 12th in its 2019 Associate Survey for ‘Overall Diversity,’ ‘Diversity for Minorities,’ and ‘Diversity for Women’ and 11th for ‘Diversity for LGBT Individuals’.
How can law firms best encourage innovation?
By embracing innovation in our culture and by listening to what clients want. Innovation at Crowell is about encouraging everyone to share their ideas and about working together across all levels contributing to the spirit of innovation with the goal of doing great work for our clients even better than before. It’s about aligning our business with our clients’ businesses. And it’s about embracing technology, which goes back to culture.
Is technology changing the way you interact with your clients, and the services you can provide them?
Absolutely. Technology is a game changer for the HOW we interact with clients and HOW we can provide services to them. But technology is not about the WHY. This quote sums it up very well: ‘Technology will never replace the comfort, trust, and human connection clients may get from knowing their lawyer is looking out for them and has their back.’ And even with technology, clients will want a trusted relationship, but preferably with someone who is tech-knowledgeable.
Differentiation is critical to buyers of legal services – how do you stand apart from the rest of the market?
At first, we would have said ‘culture’ but we know it’s very difficult to explain. There are of course other differentiators and amongst the most common ‘modern ones’ we go for the depth-of-expertise combined with a significant investment in the understanding of our clients business, and a no-nonsense pragmatic approach. We add on top of that culture and innovative service delivery models where applicable. A combination of those will help us to stand out.
What do you think are the top three things most clients want and why?
In our experience, this depends enormously on when, where, who, and how you ask this question. Maybe you can generate a top three for a certain sub-geographic market but even then you will find striking differences between positions, sectors, specific preoccupations, and locations.
Based on our experience, in our market, and combined with market research, we can state that the top three things clients want is (not necessarily in this order): level of service (responsiveness, interaction, personal touch), quality of work (although that is a given), and efficiency.
How have your roles/involvement in client-facing work changed since becoming managing partners?
It’s common knowledge that being a managing partner of a law firm brings about challenges. It can be difficult to balance all the different responsibilities required for the smooth running of the business. For this balance to work, a solid team of attorneys is a prerequisite. The strength of both our IP and competition departments is what makes it work. Kristof was sole managing partner of the Brussels office for five years. In April 2017, Thomas joined him as co-managing partner, and their reliable tandem has given Kristof some breathing space and has capably steered the Brussels office ever since.
In conclusion, the managing partner role did not change our involvement in our legal practice. We are still on top of things, develop strategies, review briefs and plead cases. The leg work, however, is done by a committed team. The MP role forces us to staff and manage better which is beneficial for the respective teams and the Brussels office. The MP role should also not be overestimated. Very often, MPs get side tracked and lose sight of their practices/clients and hide behind the management role. We try to avoid this at all costs.