Duane Morris: Balancing Growth and Culture at a Law Firm

Duane Morris: Balancing Growth and Culture at a Law Firm

Case Brief

Duane Morris LLP, among the 100 largest law firms in the United States, is a full-service firm of more than 600 lawyers. In addition to legal services, Duane Morris has independent affiliates employing approximately 100 professionals engaged in other disciplines. With offices in major markets, and as part of an international network of independent law firms, Duane Morris represents clients across the nation and around the world.

Back to late 90s early 2000s, around 100 years after it was formed, the medium size of the regional law firm, Duane Morris was entering a period of impressive growth, led by CEO Sheldon Bonovitz. Quakers founded the firm at the beginning, which led that the firm had a different organizational culture with a series of unique or unusual business practices and cultures which including things mentioned below:

--The transparent and flexible wage system

--The practice of group integration in several offices, utility companies

--The early adoption of financial reporting software

--Consensus-based decision making.

These practice as well as the culture brings the success to the firm and The company is so proud of its corporate culture and sought to preserve it as it grew, leaving only those that match the culture in small groups.

In 2005, the company completed the first merger, taking the 64-person firm in San Francisco. The case made the question regarding the fact that growth was needed to stay competitive for Duanne Morris, however, could Duane Morris preserve their unusual culture, resulting in a large number of new lawyers and keep the mechanism working well?

The case provides the information on the firm's management structure, business model as well as the trend of the industry. At the same time it also focuses on the firm's rapid growth during the past years and the challenges it was facing to solve the question how to maintain the corporate culture when...