Defense Digest, Vol. 25, No. 4, December 2019

On the Pulse...Culturally Speaking

The Grass Is Pretty Green Right Here

                                        “Leap and the net will appear.” - John Burroughs

 

In January 2018, I made a big leap. Along with Linda Farrell, Kelly Scifres and our support staff, Domenique Archibald and Janna Westmoreland, we made the monumental decision to join the Workers’ Compensation Department at Marshall Dennehey in Jacksonville, Florida. Linda had been with our prior firm since graduating law school, and I had been there for over nine years. Marshall Dennehey did not have a workers’ compensation presence in Florida, and that meant we’d be starting the Florida practice from scratch. It was intimidating to stay the least.

Linda and I felt responsible for the huge life change we were asking Kelly, Domenique and Janna to make, and we were nervous about the dedication it would take to develop the infrastructure needed to create a thriving Florida workers’ compensation practice. Would our clients come? Would we improve our work/life balance? How would our lives change going to the new firm? Would we be successful? Even with all of our concerns, we felt as if this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and we decided to take the leap. Nearly two years in, I’m so thankful that we did.

Not All Firms Are the Same

I’ve been practicing Florida workers’ compensation defense since I graduated from law school and passed the Florida Bar in 2001. I’m closing in on my 20th anniversary of becoming a lawyer. I’ve worked at two other firms in my career.

There are always pros and cons to working at a law firm. My first firm trained me well, using the “sink or swim” method. I swam, thankfully, and my perseverance paid off. I made partner at age 29. That firm laid a foundation to help me become a confident defense lawyer, but in the end, it did not weather the 2008 recession. I suddenly found that, although I was a partner, I was not getting a paycheck because the firm couldn’t make payroll!

My second firm was a 50-attorney regional firm in Jacksonville. The firm was fiscally sound and certainly provided shelter from the recession storm. They helped me grow my practice, and there were kind people who worked there, but it lacked an organized structure to advance partners to shareholders, even if those partners happened to have more business than existing shareholders. Linda and I found ourselves doing all the heavy lifting of marketing for our department, even though there were eight other attorneys in our group, several of whom were shareholders. Add that to constantly changing origination metrics for the attorneys and it made things complicated. All this ultimately led us to Marshall Dennehey.

Transition

Linda and I met with the very patient decision makers at Marshall Dennehey for nearly a year before we committed. It’s a testament to them that they didn’t give up on us! We didn’t feel pressured, which allowed us to come to the decision with a clear conscience. It also helped that my best friend, Elizabeth Ferguson, had joined the firm’s Professional Liability Department a year earlier, and she certainly helped convince us we’d be happy here.

Once we agreed to join the firm, the Marshall Dennehey machine took over and helped make the transition much less stressful than anticipated. I can’t say enough about the work of Sandy Caiazzo, who helped us navigate every aspect of the transition. From the letters we should send to our existing clients (all of our clients came with us, by the way) to helping organize the exact time the movers would show up to move our files so that we could have the least disruption possible at our old firm, Sandy had the answer. She flew down to Jacksonville for a week to patiently walk us through the logistics of setting up our files in FileSite, as our pleadings are a little different than the other departments. She handled the worries of how we would structure our paper files. It is intimidating in a firm of over 500 attorneys to figure out who we needed to call if we had an issue develop or needed an answer to a new question. Sandy helped us navigate all of that brilliantly. She is really good at helping lateral partners transition to Marshall Dennehey and is a huge asset to this firm.

Marshall Dennehey Culture

One aspect of this firm that was a huge component of our decision to join was how warm and welcoming everyone was. Jacksonville may be in Florida, but it is entrenched in the deep South. We were accustomed to friendly southern hospitality and were a little apprehensive of what the culture would be like at this big Northeastern firm. We need not have worried. Our first day on the job, there was a luncheon welcoming us, and a photographer came in to take new photographs so we didn’t have to go off-site. Every single person we met–whether in Philadelphia or in Florida–was warm, kind and genuine to us. Our workers’ compensation group has some of the smartest, funniest and most welcoming people I’ve ever met. After only a few months, we connected with so many people that it felt like we had been here for years. We were home.

Another striking difference with Marshall Dennehey was the lack of competition over client origination. There is no “eat what you kill” mentality here, and the stress that goes along with that is also missing. Many generous attorneys in our firm have reached out to their client contacts and helped us foster new workers’ compensation client relationships in Florida. Additionally, we’ve worked to help expand our existing list of clients to other offices and states. It seems like a really simple, effective model to promote trust and foster growth within the firm. It’s surprising that more firms don’t follow a similar model.

Lastly, we are thankful that we are no longer on our own, setting up and scheduling all of our own marketing events. We’ve found Marshall Dennehey’s team-oriented approach to marketing refreshing. We have great help from the capable marketing team in Philadelphia that helps us prepare for any seminar or event with attention and detail.

I hear attorneys at other firms talk about their challenges and their quest for greener grass. As for me, I recognize the differences between this firm and others, and I am thrilled to be part of the Marshall Dennehey family. The grass is a lovely shade of green right here.

*Heather is a shareholder in our Jacksonville, Florida office. She can be reached at 904.358.4225 or hbcarbone@mdwcg.com.

 

 

Defense Digest, Vol. 25, No. 4, December 2019 is prepared by Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin to provide information on recent legal developments of interest to our readers. This publication is not intended to provide legal advice for a specific situation or to create an attorney-client relationship. ATTORNEY ADVERTISING pursuant to New York RPC 7.1. © 2019 Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin. All Rights Reserved. This article may not be reprinted without the express written permission of our firm. For reprints, contact tamontemuro@mdwcg.com.