Advice to law firm management:
Act like leaders, run your firm like a business not like a frat house or day care. Establish a merit based bonus and raise structure to give better incentives for peak performers to stay and grow with firm. Eliminate many long-term employees who participate in harassment, bullying and creating hostile work environment for others and are not disciplined because of seniority or because they report to shareholders. Mentor associates better and require them to bring in business. Spend more time training professional and support staff and improve firm’s weak technology infrastructure.

Pros:
No structure so employees create own hours.

Cons:
Unethical attorneys, unskilled staff, toxic work environment. Poor pay, no room for advancement, Managing Shareholders are ineffective leaders and mentors, in exciting legal work. Firm is having serious financial issues, so won’t be in business long.

Partners to Avoid and Why:
Chris Wend the firm’s managing partner is very poor leader with no strategic planning skills. He and several other partners are unethical, over-bill clients and play favorites based on employees personal loyalty rather than excellent performance. Arthur Zitsow is a nasty and toxic human being who can’t keep support staff and creates a hostile work environment.

Favorite Things About this Firm:
Location

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Length of Employment:
10+ years

Advice to law firm management:
Management should provide increased bonuses to those employees who exceed expectations.

Pros:
The quality of the work is excellent. The firm allows for associates to interact with clients and encourages client development. The firm works as a team.

Cons:
The firm recently moved to Glendale and is not walkable to places to have lunch.

Partners to Avoid and Why:
None. All partners are approachable and have an open door policy. They listen and follow up on issues presented to them.

Favorite Things About this Firm:
The people. It is a pleasure to come to work every day.

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Length of Employment:
10+ years

Advice to law firm management:
Advice I would give to the firm management would be simply to update firm technology and have specific technical requirements and expectations for the support staff.

Pros:
I worked at the firm for 3 years prior to leaving California. I gave over 4 months notice before leaving because my superiors were excellent bosses and deserved the consideration. Not only are the leadership great attorneys, they are good people. When my mother passed, I was given as much time as I needed. No one asked me when I would return and simply asked what appearances or work they could cover for me.

Cons:
Every defense firm has issues as everyone is trying to capture billable time. I've worked at 4 major Southern California defense firms and this was the most enjoyable working experience for me. Sure, there were some personalities within the firm that were hard to work with, and some clients no one wanted to interact with. Any defense lawyer will tell you this comes with the territory. Every time I had a complaint or problem, it was handled fairly and promptly. The firm administrator, managing partner and other shareholders in the Los Angeles / Glendale office treated me with respect and valued my input on potential changes to the firm policies.

Partners to Avoid and Why:
From my perspective, the partners at this firm all were willing to mentor and provide advice to me and the other associates. I especially enjoyed working with Duke DeHaas, Christopher Wend and Arthur Zitsow. Their personalities could not be more different, so I was able to learn varied things from each.

Favorite Things About this Firm:
The firm was extremely flexible about work hours and location. Even before Covid, one could adjust their own schedule. Attorneys were simply left to themselves to complete their work and meet their billable hours.

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Length of Employment:
10+ years

Advice to law firm management:
Would like to have more firm-wide events so I can connect more with the attorneys at the other locations throughout California.

Pros:
The best part of the firm is the people, most have been there 15-30 years. You just don't see that today and as a result, they are resources to be utilized. Everyone is relaxed and supportive. It's great to work for a firm that is ethical, honest, and highly respected by the judges, co-counsels, and even the plaintiff attorneys. Having that much experience and approachability to the partners has helped me learn and adjust faster than expected. Coming into the office is like being home with a big family with always lots to talk about and happening.

Cons:
We are going through a system conversion which will hopefully be great once it is completed. Glad they are investing in the future but change is always hard. I also wish there was a gym membership since there is an equinox adjacent.

Partners to Avoid and Why:
None that I've encountered, yet.

Favorite Things About this Firm:
Taking time to celebrate all the holidays, seasons, and employee birthdays throughout the year. I also enjoy the celebrations following trials when the attorney(s) and team share their experiences about the case and what happened as they are always so enthusiastic.

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Length of Employment:
10+ years

Advice to law firm management:
Keep staying focused on employee's wellbeing.

Pros:
This is a small but stable law firm, where you can come to work and learn from the best both as a staff member or as an attorney. A laid-back environment that provides everyone a work/life balance. You are allowed to set your own work hours based on your commute and work remotely if you want to. Management team care about their employees and always very accessible and they recently spent $500K in state of the art technology to make work easier. Great salaries and benefits, subsidized lunches, paired with a 37.5 hours work week makes this firm a very nice place to work.

Cons:
It's located in Glendale CA which can be a long commute for some

Favorite Things About this Firm:
Management is always accessible and willing to make changes. Employees are always involved in the decision process as it affects their work. The work/life balance and ability to work remote is fantastic.

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Length of Employment:
10+ years