Like many companies across Connecticut, Hartford law firm Bingham McCutchen felt the crippling effects of last fall’s devastating snowstorm and subsequent power outages. But Bingham, known for its supportive work environment, took extra steps to take care of its own after the storm. The unique Bingham culture, where employees are treated like family and provided with enriching professional opportunities, is one of the reasons the firm has again been named one of the best places to work in Connecticut.
Bingham welcomed its 82 employees into the Hartford office in the days following that epic storm, to get warm, and get access to electricity, water and food. The firm’s gym and its showers were made available to all employees and family members who needed them. And employees who had no childcare because schools were closed also received assistance.
“We decided that people could bring their kids to work if they needed to; they couldn’t stay home in unheated houses,” said Dan Papermaster, managing partner of the Hartford office. “This is our extended family and we have to treat them that way.”
About a week after most power was restored, employees were invited out to a restaurant so they could recoup and relax.
“We’re not just going through the motions here,” Papermaster said. “We have people that have worked here so long. We know their spouses and their kids. It’s beyond just showing up every day and punching a time clock.”
Bingham’s regional director of human resources, Eve Morton, said the Hartford office is unique.
“We couldn’t do something like that in (the) New York (office),” Morton said. “Hartford is such a manageable size. It only strengthens the sense of family and helps bolster the quality of the work that’s done as well.”
That sense of family is carried over in many other aspects of the workplace at Bingham, and in off-hours. Papermaster said a recent attorney dinner at a local restaurant is an example of that.
“The aim of our different events is to try to strengthen relationships with different levels (of employees at the firm),” he said. “We wanted them to get a chance to spend time together and build strength upon strength.”
The event also was held in celebration of the naming of a new partner in the Hartford office.
“We’ve had six new partners at the Hartford office over the last five years,” Papermaster said. “That shows the commitment the firm has to the Hartford office and recognizes the talent we have here.”
Staff professional development is taken seriously at Bingham. A new professional development task force heads up training programs for staff and attorneys. There is legal development in-house training for attorneys as well.
“If you’re not doing that, you’re not being competitive with the top firms around the world,” Papermaster said.
Papermaster and one other partner have attended a prestigious, intensive executive leadership program at Harvard Law School, with 50 lawyers from around the world, and two more Bingham attorneys will attend this year. The firm has also implemented a training program for the next generation of leadership, in an effort to bring folks along to manage the firm and to continue to strengthen ties internally.
Firm-wide, over the last year, Bingham has rolled out a program for all managers, supervisors and directors, which directs through the process of hiring, managing employee performance, orientation, leave policies and discipline.
“It’s a pretty robust HR module for all of our supervisors,” Morton said.
The firm keeps employees engaged and satisfied with the variety of work it handles. Attorney Maggie Yavuz, who works in transactional finance, compared it to New York style work, but in Hartford.
“It’s very sophisticated, intellectually challenging and interesting,” she said. “Well over half of my work has an international component, which is really interesting for me.”
Yavuz said the support system at Bingham is a major bonus. In the firm’s formal mentorship program, staff members have mentors and are also guided by more senior mentors.
“It makes the challenges of legal practice that much easier to manage,” she said.
Papermaster said the most exciting thing about Bingham’s Hartford office is what employees do every day.
“We work on very exciting things, based not only in Connecticut but around the world,” he said. “The engine that drives this thing, it really attracts first class people to work here.”
