Q. Would you take someone
without the ownership
mindset?
They’re not out completely.
They may very well become
shareholders. But, they may
not have that mindset initially,
but I certainly would try to
engender that and keep them
advised as to the realities of
the practice and give them the
tools to think like an owner.
Sometimes, it’s just a matter
of how you treat other people
within the firm. It’s a matter of
what you talk about in the
hallways. It’s a matter of not
throwing something up the flagpole that has absolutely no
practical application within
the law firm or no benefit to
the clients. If you think of
what benefits clients first,
that’s a good mindset to have.
Q. How has hiring
through referrals benefited
the company?
You have the ability to avoid
or to quickly detect the professional interviewers. You are
dealing with people that, rather
than them telling you what a
great fit they’ll be or them
telling you what a great lawyer
they are or what great results
they’ve achieved or how great
they are with clients, you have
somebody either within the
firm or ties to the firm is
vouching for that person.
You have much more information going into the interview. Then, once people are
here, depending on their level,
we also, especially among the
younger lawyers who may not
come in initially at a shareholder level, assign a mentor
to them, which rotates on
about an annual basis. In
assigning mentors, we try to
pick people who match up
well with the individual or the
particular individual’s needs.
It may be somebody within
their same practice area
because they are very new and
they need to learn the skills of
the practice area. It may be
somebody who is outside the
practice area but has a proven
track record of being able to
develop clients or to interact
well with clients, and they may
be working on those people
skills as opposed to the nuts
and bolts of legal skills through
the mentor process.
HOW TO REACH: Kemp Klein Law Firm, (248) 528-1111 or www.kempklein.com
