Legal talk: how the workplace can be leveraged to sustain culture in law firms

A new episode of the Unworking podcast features UnWork advisor and former DLA Piper consultant Cornelius Medvei in conversation with Colin Passmore, senior counsel at Simmons & Simmons. With nearly four decades of experience at the firm, Colin is well positioned to consider how culture in a law firm is created and sustained. The conversation centred around how law firms are responding to changes in the world of work, from real estate and AI to navigating cultural nuances across a global workforce.

Passmore notes that culture within a firm is shaped by listening to employees and actively implementing feedback. He shares how firms are increasingly finding ways of setting up structures that enable the views of the younger people coming into law firms and finding out what they want out of the office experience. He cites the example of Dentons, who have set up a young shadow executive committee designed to explore what younger members of the professions – who are going to be the future leaders of those firms – want, and any problems they are seeing.

A work of art

A commonly cited problem for law firms is how to attract employees into the office on a regular basis. Despite a large-scale shift away from cellular offices in UK law firms and an increased focus on high-end design and amenities, many law firms are still concerned about the level of attendance in the office.

According to Colin Passmore, if we want to fix this problem, the solution lies in not only creating offices where employees want to spend their time but creating moments that spark conversation and intrigue. Passmore explains that artwork can be a powerful catalyst for conversation between employees and with clients in the Simmons & Simmons offices. In the 1980s, Simmons & Simmons started a low-level initiative to use art as a design tool to improve the aesthetics of the office but now the initiative has expanded into a global collection of outspoken art.

Not only has the initiative peaked an interest for art for some employees within the firm, sparking new conversations, it also functions as a marketing tool. Colin explains how clients enjoy coming in and seeing the different types of art, as well as hearing the stories behind them. The art is a common theme in Simmons & Simmons offices globally and is often moved between locations.

The future of office real estate

Medvei and Passmore discuss the seemingly exponential growth of London’s real estate market which is accommodating a rising demand for residential and mixed-use buildings in the city. Passmore explains that currently law firms are still locked into long leases with little flexibility, but as these leases come to an end there will be a big shift in legal workplace requirements.

The conversation also turned towards the differences in office real estate in law firms globally. Colin Passmore noted that the issue of coming into the office on a regular basis is less prominent in most European capital cities as they don’t have the same commuting issues that London has. Employees in these cities tend to live in accommodation that is in walking or cycling distance from the office, and so the practice there is still to come into the office four or even five days a week.

Technology versus culture

Although the introduction of new technology has been pivotal in reshaping the legal workplace landscape following the pandemic, there are some growing concerns related to how the adoption of new technologies might affect office culture. Colin Passmore expressed concern over the immediacy that technology affords an employee and noted that it was important that the benefits of this technology don’t, as an accidental byproduct, start to kill the culture.

As law firms continue to navigate the future of work, it is paramount that a culture of learning and communication is cultivated and maintained. While culture is seemingly threatened by the evolution of hybrid working and high-quality technology, Passmore argues that it is important to focus on the physical workplace to sustain culture within a law firm.

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