Balancing growth and culture at a Law Firm

Introduction Founded as Duane Morris Heckscher & Roberts in 1904 with

strong ties with Quakers community

Too small to handle complex litigation and transaction, too

large to work on price. Geographical expansion and
increment in team of lawyers – Need of the hour! : Sheldon
Bonovitz (CEO)

Major Concern: How do we grow and implement strategic

changes while maintaining our culture and values?

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1. What are the values that characterize Duane
Morris? How did the firm socialize its members into
these values?
        Duane Morris had Quaker roots (religious society
of friends) and it firmly believes and practices
them. At first it appears as a Utopian Society. They
practiced the following values in their personal as
well as professional life-

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      They followed egalitarian approach that i.e.
equality in all its form. Promoted human
interaction on social grounds. Offered
everyone opportunity to express their opinion
Equality of all and try to build consensus on different issues.
people Diversity is appreciated, majority rules is not a
game there. Any job role is just a part of
service and does not represents power and
position. Their payment procedure is also
flexible and transparent.

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 They believe in logic and rationality to its
Simplicity and optimum. They never intended to do something
Functionality just for sake of getting attention and popularity
also they defied herd behaviour.

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 They believed in progressive values and adopted
incremental approach to establish them. Since
Progress through the change they advocate is about our lifestyle
and the way we think, this process needs to
incremental change undergo certain procedures and sincere
discussions which can’t be done on overnight
basis.

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 The firm ensured execution of Quaker values in
Duane Morris right from the recruitment process.
They hired employees from lateral partners on small
scale and invested time and cost to inculcate these
values among its employees. This helped them getting
better cultural alignment and reduce any scope of
conflict. Also, they practice zero tolerance against any
sort of unethical and anti-social behavior.