Duane Morris

Duane Morris was founded by Duane, Morris , Heckscher and Roberts in 1904. It was a midsize firm with only few lawyers in 1997. It had its name in market for unusual degree of collegiality and a culture of consensus-based decision making. Equality of people, Simplicity and functionality and progress through incremental change are the key factors that led to Duane Morris’s success. They believed that all people were equal and leadership was a service function. They had maintained simplicity of clothing and speech as well. Any action the firm took was expected to have a solid functional justification backed up with quantitative analysis.

In 1998 Sheldon Bonovitz became chair and CEO of the firm. He brought in 3-5 year strategic plan. Primary recruitments were made by hiring experienced lateral partners and teams. 20-25% of the associates were made partners. Compensation process was transparent and flexible. Team work was rewarded. Group integrations and cross-selling was practiced. Emphasis was made on client relationships. Professional skills as well as personal qualities were assessed. These all factors led to the noticing growth of Duane Morris.

Duane Morris preferred to be the firm that attorneys with few years of experience would move on to. They have focused number of lawyers and specific leverage within practice groups when they look for hiring new people. The ration of partners to associates was low, approximately 1.2 to 1. The compensation process at Duane Morris was transparent. Duane Morris’s budgets were challenging but achievable. All Lawyers met once per year. Partners met three times in person a year. All these can easily be scalable.

Law was a conservative profession which was not quick to change. There is always pressure to have a national, rather than merely regional footprint. The main risk the firm will face in next five to ten years will be to continue its growth without disrupting the existing culture. Existing offices being understaffed and no progress in panning domestic offices can play as a big risk factor for Duane Morris.

Duane Morris should look for a leader with high emotional quotient. The new leader should be bright, sharp and hardworking as well as not socially awkard.