Measuring Law Firm Culture
Law, Politics and Society, Vol. 52, pp. 1-31, 2010
32 Pages Posted: 23 Nov 2010
Date Written: November 23, 2010
Abstract
This paper proposes a research agenda for the study of large law firm culture and explains how the research would contribute to both legal ethics and organizational theory. It focuses on two sets of questions that are uniquely suited to investigation in large law firms. First: what is the significance of organizational culture, relative to that of professional networks and subgroups? To what extent does organizational membership shape lawyers’ understandings about “how things are done”? Second: how is organizational culture sustained? What are the mechanisms of cultural integration in volatile, multi-office firms? The paper draws on a pilot study of law firm culture in one 500-lawyer firm.
Keywords: law firm culture, practice group, organizational culture, legal ethics
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