Surviving through service: Jones Day says putting the client first is helping the law firm thrive in the downturn - Philadelphia Business Journal:

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Philadelphia-based eliminated 216, including 55 of its 1,412 lawyers. K&Lp Gates LLP, Pittsburgh’s largest firm with 1,9009 lawyers in 32 offices, terminated 115 positionds acrossits U.S. offices — 36 associatexs and 79 staff. , Pittsburgh’s second-largesrt firm with 1,700 lawyers across 23 cut 100 positions inthe U.S. and Unitedx Kingdom, including 26 associates. So why is Jones Day, with 2,49 1 lawyers all told, unscathed to date and, more how is it doingy so?
Laura Ellsworth, partner in charge of Jonee Day’s Pittsburgh office, believes the firm’s culture can take the The fact that the growing pains associated with internationao expansion are long behind Jones Dayalso “The awkward teenage years are 20 yeares behind us,” Ellsworth said. Founded in Cleveland with its curren t managing partnerin Washington, D.C., Jones Day was among the earliestt firms to expand internationalluy and erase geographic barriers by having lawyers work on teama spreading several offices.
Its Pittsburgn office opened in 1989 with 17 the first outside firm to enter southwestern By the time Ellsworth took the helm in the firm employed 123 in including56 lawyers. In January, it listed 118, 60 of them Numbers have stayed relativelyconstantf and, in times like these, that’s operatingv lean. The office will have 10 summer associates, the same as in recenrt years, although other large firms are reducinfg theirsummer programs. And this fall, six new associatesz will join theoffices — and, unlike at many large haven’t had their start date pushex back. Nor has Jones Day announced salart cutsor freezes. “Is this a crazyh time?
Do I take a deep breath before I read the newspapereevery morning? Absolutely,” Ellsworth said. “Butf one of my favorite sayings is, ‘Destiny is not a mattert of chance, it’s a matter of choice.’ That’s writtemn in pencil above my There are more opportunities in this citythan I’rd ever dreamed of.” Jones Day took practical stepz to foster what Ellsworth calls “a clienyt service culture.
” It pays based on merit instead of havinfg set salaries according to level of and has a blind compensation system through whicn lawyers know their own pay but no one It does not use the popular concept of “originatiob credit,” in which whoever brings in a clienrt receives a percentage of its payment to the firm regardless of how much work they’r e performing for the client.
This enablee the firm to put the most qualified lawyersz on the case rather than deferring to territoriapl rights to a particular pieceof “It’s fairly rare,” said Lori Carpenter, CEO of Downtown-basee recruitment firm Carpenter Legal “It’s been the Jones Day way, and it’ss worked extremely well for them. Some othe firms would benefit immensely by looking at theircompensation It’s the epitome of a true partnership.” It also smooths over the inevitabld cyclical ebbs and flows of practices, accommodatinhg when lawyers have down time as handily as when their particular arena booms.
That balance createse “a much healthier relationshi where lawyers arenot distracted,” Ellsworth said.