Post-COVID, law firms have reported a struggle to return to the way they worked before. Many Colorado firms have told Law Week that attorneys are still reluctant to return in person and some firms have noted it’s more common now for staff and attorneys alike to question law firm policies and management structures.
Some firms have risen from the ashes of the pandemic and returned to five days in person at Colorado locations. But other local firms have fundamentally questioned what makes a law firm effective and how staff and attorneys can feel they’re on a more level playing field.
But among the plethora of new policy options, is the latest and greatest equitable law firm management strategy a flatter model?
What is a Flat Firm Management Model?
On July 16, Spencer Fane announced a new internal organizational structure. The new structure is flatter than a traditional law firm model, which often relies heavily on hierarchy, vesting and tenure.
Spencer Fane’s new model separates the firm’s management into parallel lines of accountability. One line is internal and focuses on talent and the other is external and focused on the market.
“Our firm is transitioning away from the traditional top-down hierarchical structure and organizing in a manner that resists a ‘command and control’ bureaucracy in favor of a design intended to nurture a culture of empowerment, autonomy, and accountability,” Spencer Fane Chair Patrick Whalen said in the announcement. “Within our firm, we see the shift as a movement, not a mandate, that comes in response to a shift in the optimal structure providing both the support attorneys need to serve clients at the highest level and the opportunity for continuous personal growth and improvement.”
The two lines don’t report to each other, Whalen noted, and as the firm twists away from what Whalen described as a “150-year-old static law firm model,” the teams within the lines are expected to minimize bureaucracy.
Spencer Fane ranked in Law Week’s top 15 largest legal employers in the state with 71 Colorado attorneys as of December 2023. Some smaller local firms have similar flat structures in place as well but may have built the firm around it from conception.
For Hailey | Hart, the firm founders shied away from the traditional hierarchical structure of a law firm, favoring a more even-level management structure that firm co-founder Melissa Hailey said is critical to support attorneys and staff alike.
Small Firms That Favor Flatter Management Models
Hailey explained that Hailey | Hart’s flat structure was intentional and formed at the conception of the firm in 2021. But she noted this kind of structural choice is much easier for smaller firms to pull off.
“On the website, you just see founding partners and then attorneys. We don’t have associates. I don’t really see the point,” Hailey said. Currently, the firm has two co-founding partners, three attorneys and two paralegals. Hailey noted she hoped the firm’s structure creates a more level playing field for non-attorneys and attorneys, which she explained was one of the goals of choosing a flat firm structure.
Hailey | Hart isn’t just invested in a flat firm management structure, it has also done away with merit-based bonuses that tend to favor attorneys. Instead, Hailey said bonuses are disbursed to everyone at the firm based on how well the firm is doing financially and how much the firm is able to recover for clients.
“People in my firm are paid accordingly, whether you are an attorney or a paralegal, because we want everybody to feel invested,” Hailey said.
But some may wonder how attorneys can grow in a flat model, where there is no tenure or other benchmark to hit in order to make partner in the traditional sense.
Hailey advised non-owner attorneys to communicate professional needs, desires and expectations early and often. For firm owners, she said it’s important to stay transparent and clear about the goals and finances of the firm when operating in a flat management structure.
“If all goes to plan, the goals of the firm and all members of the firm will align, and all attorneys will have opportunities for growth when the firm does well,” Hailey said.
Denver-based BAM Family Law retains two co-founders and three associate attorneys alongside an office manager, three paralegals and a receptionist. The firm’s approach on cases is to assign two or more attorneys to each case, with one attorney serving as a lead.
The firm also leverages paralegals and nonattorney staff to help keep costs down for clients. This approach also levels out the playing field for attorneys and nonattorneys and, in combination with the firm’s more relaxed structure, may provide greater staff equity.
BAM Co-founding Partner Kyle McFarlane said the firm does have a tenured growth model that also factors in billable hours, but noted BAM also largely avoids the more traditional hierarchical law firm management model.
“I don’t know that I would say we’re a totally flat structured firm,” McFarlane said. “But I would say that we are not hierarchical from the sense of I give everybody a say before I hire a new attorney, or [before] we make any major changes, we all talk about it as a firm.”
While the structure is there at BAM, McFarlane explained the firm also takes a more equitable approach to support staff than a traditional law firm might, stressing everyone at the firm feels paralegals are the firm’s biggest asset. She noted a lot of more old-school firms may view associates and paralegals as replaceable.
“I think our clients, I think the attorneys here, really think our paralegals are pretty much our bread and butter, because they’re so talented, they do a bulk of the work,” McFarlane said. “I think paralegals sometimes have a bigger say in things because they’re so integral to how we do them.”
What’s Next for Spencer Fane
For a large firm, implementing a management change that breaks from a century-old norm doesn’t typically happen overnight.
“Having studied hundreds of structural transformations and why most fail, we know that this redesign will evolve and require continual refinements,” Whalen said. “If we are doing it right, this is work that will never be done and will always be improving.”
Locally, Whalen noted that seven Colorado partners have already volunteered their time to lead the redesigned firm structure. “While there is still much experimentation and evolution in front of us, the enthusiasm in these early stages speaks to the need for alternatives to the traditional ‘Big Law’ model.”
Whalen said the change for Spencer Fane is expected to bring more agility, voice and connection to the firm’s Colorado attorneys. “We are opting out of the traditional vertical hierarchy many organizations lurch towards as they grow and instead, we are choosing to double-down on a structure that embraces truly entrepreneurial behavior,” Whalen said.