Culture

Ropes & Gray is administered by a number of different committees and groups whose membership is drawn from the firm's lawyers. Some of these bodies have only partners as members; others include associates as well. While the membership and responsibilities of the various firm administrative bodies differ widely, they all have two things in common: they do their work collaboratively, and they reach their decisions by consensus. Below we describe the responsibilities of several of the most important administrative bodies at Ropes & Gray.

Policy Committee: The Ropes & Gray Policy Committee operates much like the board of directors of a corporation. It sets the firm's overall business strategy and makes the firm's most important decisions, including associate compensation, partners' distributions, admission of partners, and appointment of other committees. The Policy Committee's members are selected after each partner in the firm has been interviewed to determine a consensus among the partnership as a whole. Similarly, the Committee itself acts by a consensus of its members and, on important issues such as the promotion of associates to the partnership, only after meeting with each partner to ensure that the consensus extends across the firm. The current Chair of the Policy Committee is Brad Malt. A second member of the Policy Committee, John Montgomery, currently serves as the firm's Managing Partner.

Brad Malt, left, Chair of the Policy Committee, and John Montgomery, right, Managing Partner of the firm.

Departments: Ropes & Gray's day-to-day business of serving its clients is administered by the six Departments. Each department is headed by one or more partners. The department heads have overall responsibility within their particular practice areas for staffing client matters, developing new business opportunities, and training associates. In carrying out these responsibilities, the department heads invariably work in close collaboration with the other lawyers in their group.

Rob Jones, left, Bob Fischler, center, and Jeanne Curtis, right, are the three heads of the Litigation Department. All of them serve as in-office interviewers and play an active role in our recruiting program.

Associates Committee: The Associates Committee, chaired by David Mandel, is a group of partners who are responsible for evaluating associate performance during the first five years following graduation from law school. Each associate within the Associates Committee's jurisdiction is evaluated twice a year by the Committee. (Evaluations of more senior associates are done by the Policy Committee.) In order to prepare its semi-annual evaluations, the Associates Committee solicits, from every partner, counsel, and senior associate in the firm written comments on the performance of associates with whom the evaluating lawyer has worked during the preceding six months. The Associates Committee liaison also follows up as necessary to obtain comprehensive feedback concerning each associate. The Associates Committee Chair and Liaison then consult with other partners as necessary, and discuss and finalize the evaluation of each associate. The evaluation is then reviewed in detail in a meeting between the associate and his or her Committee liaison. In the year-end review, a department representative also participates in the review meeting.

David Mandel, Chair of the Associates Committee

Hiring Group: The Hiring Group is comprised of twenty partners responsible for leading the firm's efforts to evaluate and recruit potential new associates. The Chair of the Hiring Group also acts as the firm’s Hiring Partner, a position currently held by Richard Batchelder. While the Hiring Group leads the firm's recruiting efforts, many other lawyers in the firm — including most of the firm's associates — contribute importantly to those efforts by participating in on-campus interviews and/or in-office interviews. Most prospective Ropes & Gray summer and full-time associates meet with at least six to seven Ropes & Gray lawyers as part of the evaluative process. Biographies of all regular interviewers are available by clicking on Interviewer Bios. All interviewers who see a particular candidate, including associate interviewers, have substantial input into the offer decision. In making these decisions, the Hiring Group focuses on making offers only to those candidates who have a strong consensus of support among the people who interviewed them.

Richard Batchelder, Chair of the Hiring Group and the firm’s Hiring Partner (left) with, and fellow Hiring Group member, Coke Cherney (right), who is the partner-in-charge of the Summer Program.

Associates Liaison Committee: The Associates Liaison Committee (ALC) is comprised of four partners (including Coke Cherney, the committee chair), associates from all offices, and a career guidance manager from the Attorney Support Department. The ALC monitors and makes recommendations regarding firm policies and practices that affect associate life. The ALC also implements programs to foster the firm's culture and values and to promote career development within Ropes & Gray. The ALC serves as a resource that associates may use to offer ideas and to raise questions or concerns, the ALC is a voice of the associates to the Policy Committee regarding the quality of associate life, work, training and development. Through the ALC associates can recommend changes to policies. The ALC also serves as a forum for sharing accurate information about the firm's policies, operations, and expectations as they apply to associates, thereby facilitating a consistent, shared understanding among the firm's partners and associates. Since its creation in 1997, the ALC has made several significant recommendations that the firm has adopted, including institution of a business casual dress code; maintaining personal and business contacts with Ropes & Gray alumni through the development of a directory; creation of on-premises nursing mothers' rooms; and sponsorship of the GLBT Forum. Most recently ALC members provided advice and participated in the process that led to improvements in the associate review and development model. The ALC has also organized and implemented integration programs and social events to promote a "one firm" culture throughout all of our offices, and has assisted in the implementation of the firm's Best Practices Initiative by encouraging lawyers to incorporate into their practices the guiding principles on how attorneys should interact at the firm.

Training Advisory Committee: The Training Advisory Committee is a group of partners and associates responsible for monitoring the firm's overall training effort and for recommending changes or additions to existing training programs. Recent initiatives of the Training Advisory Committee include creation of training sessions for junior associates on time-management and negotiation skills, and for senior associates on the development of management skills. For more information regarding the firm's training program in general or the Training Advisory Committee in particular, see Associate Training or contact Rob Shapiro, the chair of the Training Advisory Committee.

Rob Shapiro, Chair of the Training Advisory Committee