The Skadden Story. Can Latam firms learn from US firms?

Traditionally, law firms in Latin America had close ties with US law firms. They do business with them mostly through referrals sent by US firms; they send young lawyers to get trained in internships; and they also become friends with them. They also admire them and much of Latam international legal professional training comes from working together.

But when it comes to management and organization, it is common to hear that US firms are too different and there is not much to learn from them. Their markets and cultures have special features that helped them in becoming so organized and institutional. Latam is an unstable and inmature market, and consequently it is very dificult to reach those stages of evolution. So the buttom line seems to be that there are many things to learn from them, but not much from their organizations. But is that really true? Well, yes and no.

The referred differences are obviously right. The anglosaxon culture is much more keen to institutional arrangements than the Latin culture, more prone to personalism. Markets have been generally more stable if you consider long periods of time. Those differences indicate that you cannot simply replicate solutions used in unsimilar jurisdictions. A copy-paste strategy is likely to end in failure, no matter how great the formula looks like.

But copying is not the only way to learn. You also have the inspiration. People get inspired all the time by in all sorts of situations (books, films, stories, conversations, etc.). In an inspiration, you catch a general concept, value or idea from a situation that is unrelated to you but that could be adapted to be applied to your case. Inspiration comes more as an emotional strike than a rational recipe. Inspiration comes from a sudden insight that something is right, and you should use it. Inspiration requires an open mind and an open heart.

I found “The Skadden Story. An Autobiography” (2014) very inspiring. This book was written by the firm itself to reflect the story of its first 50 years and how they became one of the most prominent law firms in modern times. It is inspiring because you can see through their stories, that they started much like any other firm, with dreams and limitations, but their passion, effort and clear view of what they wanted to accomplish made them what Skadden is: a great firm.

Let me share with you some of the aspects that I found more inspiring in their story, from a Latam lawyer perspective,:

Outstanding Leadership. Clearly not every firm has the luck of having a Joe Flomm to develop your firm. But in addition to his remarkable professional and rainmaking skills, Flomm wanted to create a great firm and later an institution. He did´nt dwell in his personal success and charisma. He used it for the firm and for creating a formidable talent and service machine.

Talent and Meritocracy. Not being a firm from the establishment, Skadden needed to find other strenghts, and they based it on talent and meritrocacy. If you were good and hard-working, you would make it. Otherwise, the system would naturally expell you. That attracted great lawyers that wanted to work in such stimulating environment. And the firm invested substantial time in training-on-the-job that superb talent. Mentoring and coaching was a central pillar in Skadden talent development.

Hard-working Culture. Skadden had a fame for being a sweatshop and I´m sure it is a hard-working place, not suitable for everybody. But they compensated this stressful environment with two antidotes: passion and collaboration. Tension can create a bad climate and decrease effectiveness; but Skadden partners knew what they needed to accomplish. So the hard-working culture was fueled by a high level of motivation to grow and succeed; and do a great work.

Service Quality and Innovation. One of the things that strikes you of Skadden is their uncompromising commitment to quality and service. They would just did´nt stop until they produced what they thought is was best for the client. As Eric Friedman says “we consider no issue insurmountable”. So creativity and innovation was put to the service of clients needs in all cases. But they did it with pragmatism and a client oriented approach.

Strategic Thinking. You might think that the early days of Skadden were easier that the current competitive markets, but it was pretty hard for them to find a place in a very established and controlled-by-few market. So when an opportunity opened up and the takeover era started, they grabbed the opportunity and did´nt let it go. They combined an intense day-to-day activity with a looking-forward perspective that allowed them to drive their efforts in the right direction.

Becoming a Business and an Institution. When you read their testimonies, it is clear that Skadden partners were not there just for the money and their individual glory. They wanted to make an institution that lasted long after they would leave their offices. In order to achieve that they new they have to run the firm as a business, so they hired Earle Yaffa as managing director, the first big law firm to make such a move. This and other actions and decisions showed how Skadden came to the conclusion that turning the firm into an institution was an essential step towards consolidating their success and projecting it into the future.

Skadden is a big legal powerhouse with around 2,000 lawyers, too far away from the reality of Latam law firms, but the stories told in “The Skadden Story” show how much inspiration we can get from them.