The Work
Duane Morris’ nine core areas are: trial; corporate; IP; wealth planning; energy; employment, labor, benefit & immigration; real estate; health; and bankruptcy & reorganization. Although work allocation varies between offices and practice groups, there’s no formal system in place for receiving assignments. “It’s really about developing relationships with partners,” associates said. “When you first come in, they give you assignments, but once you start working with people, you develop relationships and they feed work to you. If it’s slow, it’s on your shoulders to get out there and pick up work.”
While associates praised partners for being “sensitive to how much you can handle and when you can take it on,” they acknowledge that “without an assignment pool you can end up swamped since partners don’t always know how much you’re doing.” According to manager of attorney recruitment and relations Peggy Simoncini, the firm is considering establishing a formal system for tracking hours and availability. “There’s a pilot program within a trial group underway,” she says, “but if we choose to make a cultural change like that, we want to make sure everyone’s on board first.”
Duane Morris employs around 300 litigators, with almost a third operating in the Philadelphia office. Associates in the trial department are “heavily involved in preparation,” researching and drafting documents such as motions, jury instructions and pretrial statements. They also “attend court appearances” and are typically “involved in prepping witnesses.” Intellectual property associates “do a lot of trademark prosecution,” which includes working on trademark and copyright applications and cease and desist letters. They “see clients very often” to advise them on “various license agreements and enforcement actions.”
Because litigation is such a major part of Duane Morris’ practice, “much of the work in the corporate department comes from litigation.” The first two years in corporate entails “a good bit of drafting and doc review.” Associates also perform “small research tasks” and, by their third year, “have lots more client interaction.”
The firm’s seen an increase in business reorganization and financial restructuring work since the recession. Associates here specialize: “Some are more involved with transactional work, and others do more litigation,” one said, attributing this variance to “the nature of bankruptcy work.”
Training & Development
Associates who summered in Philadelphia praised the program for its “good mix of work experience and fun times.” The program’s designed to give candidates relevant work experience. Summers have training that includes courses on legal writing and ethics, and they experience one-on-one partner interaction, which one called “the best part of it.” It’s offered annually in Philadelphia and Baltimore, and, from 2012 onwards, in New York.
All entry-level and lateral associates attend a comprehensive two-day training course in Philadelphia to introduce them to the computer system as well as details of billing and accounting. After that, there are firmwide training programs on things like writing and presentation skills, plus practice-specific sessions. Several juniors suggested that such training “is only useful to a certain extent,” since Duane Morris is “more of a throw-you-to-the-fire kind of environment. If the firm thinks enough of you to work for them, then they think you’re ready for the kinds of tasks you get right at the beginning.”
In addition to yearly reviews, associates receive informal feedback, though the amount and regularity depend on partners in their department. While some “consistently tell you how you’re doing,” others tend to “ignore the issue,” juniors reported. One pointed out that “the best way to measure feedback is through repeat assignments. If partners keep coming back to you for work, it’s an indication that you’re doing well.” Associates agreed that while the system is “not entirely transparent,” it’s still easy to “gauge how you’re doing.”
Offices
The firm has 21 domestic offices, covering both coasts and in between, plus bases in London, Singapore, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The largest office, Philly, has 162 lawyers, while some, like Lake Tahoe, contain just a handful. Chairman and CEO John Soroko says the “non-territorial relationship between our offices is one of the strong points of Duane Morris. Associates in Philadelphia are as likely to work on a matter in Boston or Chicago as they are in Philadelphia, which keeps the work fresh and associates on the ball. They never know what geography and clients will be involved in their next case, and the opportunity for them to work and even travel between offices is great.”
All attorneys receive their own office when they start. Philadelphia, which currently has 27 juniors, takes up seven floors of a 14-story mid-rise a few blocks west of City Hall. Associates describe the decor as “fairly modern” and “professional, not too overdone.” While “there’s nothing super-special about the layout,” the office is equipped “with all the technological features you could want.”
In an effort to propagate Duane Morris’“brand,” the firm styles all of its offices in the same vein, “right down to the blond-wood trimming and artwork.” This uniformity is “a unity thing,” according to juniors. “In theory you could walk into any office and be immediately familiar with the equipment and decorations. They’ve definitely created a brand because you can come off the elevator and question which city you’re in.”
While the interiors match, however, amenities differ between locations. Associates in the Miami branch have window offices with “beautiful views of the water.” In Boca Raton, the office is located in a complex with “great restaurants and cafes.” Associates in Boston were looking forward to moving into a new building with “very big offices,” and those in New York enjoy the benefits of being situated “right by Times Square.”
Culture
Associates said Duane Morris is an “open” place, emphasizing it “isn’t stuffy” because of “laid back” and “friendly” employees. “The firm does an excellent job of keeping out people you’d rather not work with. It’s not one of those places where it’s a good day if no one throws a stapler at your head.” While the “comradery is always positive,” associates stress that the atmosphere is never unprofessional. “At the end of the day, it’s a job, and the firm is always upfront about that.”
Because the firm operates on such a large scale, “you have to be team-oriented and willing to assimilate yourself into a big environment,” one associate believed. “You function within a bigger organism that requires everyone to cooperate.” Associates stress that “no one is very competitive,” mentioning that “people return from maternity leave or vacations with support, seamlessly continuing what they were working on. There are no cutthroat agendas here.”
While everyone appears “open to helping one another,” however, associates warn that the firm has a visible chain of command. “There’s a hierarchy that you have to understand. You need to know whom you’re working for and where your place is within the pecking order.” That said, there’s still room for a “range of personalities,” though “it’s beneficial to be extroverted since the personalities of partners demand you to be interactive.”
Hours & Compensation
Associates’ yearly 1,950 hours billing target is a “feasible” objective that doesn’t require working “crazy hours,” sources said. However, owing to the “ebb and flow” of legal work, “there’s rarely a time when you just have steady work and can predict your schedule,” so you have to learn to balance your downtime with times you’re “totally overwhelmed.” While many happily reported they “rarely” work weekends, few were so chipper when it came to vacations. “Technically, we get four weeks off, but I honestly believe you can’t take all four and still have a healthy life when it comes to making the target,” one discovered. Others agreed, saying they have no intention of taking their whole allowance. On the plus side, “the firm’s great about letting us work from home.”
Bonuses depend on “a combination of hours and merit,” though “there’s no official policy” and “bonuses are never guaranteed.” Most agree there’s room for improvement in this opaque system. “I’d like to see the firm work on the transparency of its compensation scheme,” one added. “In a firm this big, we need something less discretionary.”
Pro Bono
Associates can credit 50 hours of pro bono work toward their 1,950 target. While the firm “certainly tries to promote pro bono” via coordinators in each office, “there’s no pressure to do it if that’s not your thing. They’re supportive, but pro bono work’s not as important as billable work.”
For those who choose to participate – which includes 72 percent of associates and 39 percent of partners – the firm offers recognition in “a number of subtle ways” like publishing reports acknowledging recent achievements. Associates agree such nods are appreciated.
Highlights include reaching a settlement on behalf of Spanish-speaking US citizens in Volusia County, Florida, in a voting rights case, while attorneys in New York, Newark and Miami sponsored clinics for the Holocaust survivor reparations program.
Diversity
18.7 percent of partners at Duane Morris are women, which female associates called “very encouraging.” 15 percent of associates are ethnic minorities, and interviewees across offices reported a manifest “50/50 split between men and women” at the associate level.
Peggy Simoncini calls diversity “an active component of recruitment for all associates and partners.” Both entry-level and lateral hires meet with the chair of the diversity committee as part of their orientation, and each is assigned a mentor from the committee with whom “they are encouraged to develop a relationship.” Additionally, new female attorneys are greeted by members of the firm’s women’s initiative in an effort to “integrate them into the firm.”
While associates reported they feel “aware” of the firm’s various diversity initiatives – the most prominent of which is an annual two-day retreat – opinions are divided on how “successful” such schemes actually are. Associates in the Philadelphia and New York offices praised the firm for being “big on diversity,” but those in smaller locations disagreed, claiming the firm’s smaller offices “could do with some more initiatives” because they “don’t feel very diverse at the moment.”
Get Hired
According to Simoncini, recruiters want candidates with “the whole package,” which includes work experience prior to joining. “We’ve found that those who go straight from law school into a firm with no experience have a harder time hitting the ground running. We value some type of work experience that is transferable to legal work. It’s not quite a sink-or-swim environment, but associates get a lot of action at the beginning, so it’s in their interest to be experienced.” The firm also looks for people “who are planning a career at the firm rather than just doing it for a few years.”
Indeed, chairman and CEO John Soroko says it’s in associates’ interests to arrive with the intention of staying: “Career path opportunities for associates are extraordinarily robust at Duane Morris.” Over the last four years the firm has added 45 new partners from associate ranks, nine of whom were promoted at the start of 2011. “The associates we’ve elevated here see nice career opportunities. They typically don’t just put in a few years and then depart,” Soroko observes. Associates agree, calling Duane Morris “the kind of place where people go to stay” and claiming: “It’s clear enough how to become a partner if that’s what you want to do.”
Associates praise the firm’s “great management control” when it comes to hiring. “There’s no fat here,” said one. “They don’t over-hire and then slash people’s salaries. You might not get a huge bonus, but you won’t get laid off in a year either. It’s a stable place, and that makes me feel safe in the turbulent economy.”
Strategy & Future
John Soroko says that because Duane Morris “emphasizes the long view in terms of investments,” management tends to “defer immediate gratifications” in favor of decisions that will benefit the firm long-term. “Year to year we’ve maintained the same reliable clients rather than making bets on a limited number of high-profile ones who might go in and out of fashion. This long-term approach is one of our key assets as a firm.”
He says the firm is “actively adding” both entry-level and lateral associates and has no plans to jettison its current “winning strategy. I’m very focused on sticking to our successful formula of practice diversification. It helped us weather the economic downturn by allowing different pockets of the firm to be busy at all times, and we intend to continue with that balanced approach.”
In addition to increasing Duane Morris’ national profile, the firm is also “looking at additional ways to be more active internationally. A significant component of our overall practice touches on the international sphere, and we plan to do more with our overseas offices and ventures in the years to come,” Soroko says, adding that the firm is “very open to looking at new overseas affiliations to further our practice.”