LEXPERT MAGAZINE
|
APRIL 2016 53
| GENERATIONAL CHANGE |
THE TRUTH IS, when the last
wave of Baby Boomers like Teas-
dale joined large corporate law
firms in the 1980s, they were small
bugs in the workplace hierarchy.
ey could forget – or better yet,
not even consider – attending con-
ferences, direct client interface and
offering their perspective.
"We were just units of produc-
tion," is how Kevin Coon of Baker
& McKenzie LLP puts it.
But if they worked hard, the
Boomers made partner in lockstep
with the rest of their cohort. Once
admitted, they continued to work
hard, championing a work-work-
work mentality that saw many at
their desk 60 or 70 hours a week,
50 weeks a year. ey could reli-
ably be found in the office late into
the evening and at some point over
the weekend.
Coon, now Managing Partner
at his firm, says Baby Boomers
have to deal with mindsets that are
in many respects "dramatically dif-
ferent" than their own. "All I have
to do is walk through my office at
any given time to see it.
"e Boomers are in their of-
fices and there's a very traditional
model. e ratio of assistants to
partners is high, they've had their
assistant to deliver the work that
they've done for the last 20 years.
"And then I have the Millen-
nials leaving the office at
certain times — going to
work out in the evening,
for example. en they're
back on their laptop at 8
o'clock working through
to midnight remotely. e
ratio of assistants to the
younger lawyers is far lower
than it is with the Boomers
because they're practising
differently. ey're doing
stuff electronically so they don't need to
put it on paper and give it to their assistant
who, in turn, puts it in the system — all
those kinds of things.
"ey also like to work somewhat more
collaboratively. If you look at what's hap-
trault LLP, which is giving its offices more
of a "Starbucks" feel.
IF YOU WANT to talk about the young-
er generations, the conversation increasing-
ly has to include Generation Z. People born
pening in most of the downtown buildings
now, they're thinking about their work-
space, creating a workspace that fosters a
more collaborative approach."
His firm is in the middle of that exercise,
he says. So are firms like McCarthy Té-
ANNE RISTIC STIKEMAN ELLIOTT LLP
"You need to make sure you've got deep relationships at all levels,
which means you're thinking about and planning ahead for the time
when either our lawyer or their contact retires. You have to make
sure that there's a relationship coming up behind that with
the next generation on both sides."
PHOTO:
SHUTTERSTOCK
