While many corporations in America are recognizing and embracing their high performance and highly educated women, one law firm on Wall Street said frankly it doesn’t give a damn. In a recent article on the firm it was discovered that they are giving higher numerical performances to the male associates instead of the women who did just as well I the narrative reviews. They have no plans on adjusting or changing the practices they have in place for these reviews because “ clients don’t care about the firm’s record on women, and the firm has no trouble attracting female associates.”
Many are not surprised at this arrogant attitude. There are some firms who live with the attitude that the lawyers have no where else to go. Unfortunately they do leave and at the most inopportune time. For example, they bail on a client and job right before going to court. Others have experienced times when people have left for smaller firms and lower paychecks due to the stress and level of this ignorance that is allowed to blossom in firms. While you may think that people just have to deal with whatever comes down the pipeline this is not all true. They can leave and they do leave in quite awkward ways. One lawyer dealt with a employee who left after having a nervous breakdown due to the stress from the job.
Improper managing of a law firm can lead to lawsuits and discrimination suits depending on how the office was run. This can lead to costly suits that could be avoided by handling things the proper way and treating everyone on equal ground. This can also lead to clients suing due to the associates leaving and the client not feeling the firm was equipped to handle the case. The firm mentioned above has decided not to take it’s own consultants advice in the changing of proceedings and may regret this later on.
When considering staying the course in what you might be doing remember the automobile industry. They once claimed that they did not have any reason to worry about the other countries making the vehicles they were. They are now dealing with government bailouts, bankruptcy and more all because they did not take their head out of the sand and adjust to the world around them. Don’t let this be your law firm for not adjusting your policies and procedures to prevent further damage and cost to your firm.
Remember to treat your employees with the respect and dignity they deserve. It can turn around to bite you in the end if you do not. It can cost you big money and you can end up in the trenches from not paying attention now.