Big does not always translate into better. However, for Bingham McCutchen, a law firm that opened its Hartford doors in 1991 with five attorneys and is now part of a 1,100 lawyer firm with 14 offices stretching from the U.S. to Hong Kong, Tokyo and London, bigger has meant stability and career satisfaction for its employees, according to Daniel Papermaster, the firm’s managing partner. The firm occupies two floors of roughly 41,000 square feet of prime office space overlooking the Connecticut River in Hartford. Accentuating his point about stability, Papermaster added that the firm recently renewed its Hartford office lease for ten years.
“As we’ve acquired other firms and grown over the years, to succeed, we’ve had to create a culture of communication and respect throughout the firm, a culture that, by practice, demonstrates that we are not 14 separate offices but, rather, one law firm,” Papermaster said.
As a result, Bingham McCutchen is home to lawyers and staff who have been with the firm for an extraordinary length of time. Retention of staff and attorneys, he added, is a “non-issue,” reflected in a substantial “net-plus each year for at least the last five years.”
“We spend a great deal of time on communications here, letting people get to know one another so that a familiarity and integration takes place as quickly and as smoothly as possible. The length of tenure of our attorneys and staff is reflective of the fact that people like to work here, that they feel their contributions are valued and that we have a very pleasant place to work,” he said.
A significant advantage to working at Bingham McCutchen, Papermaster said, is the nature of the work the firm performs. The far flung offices, he explained, are not barriers to involvement but, rather, present opportunities for firm members to work on extraordinarily interesting cases they might not otherwise be able to engage in.
“Ours is a very fluid environment. We’ve had people move from this office to our Tokyo office, from other offices to here. Our work is a function of finding the right people to work on a particular transaction, regardless of their location.”
First-class compensation and medical benefits, flexible work schedules, liberal sick time and vacation policies and a strong commitment to supporting Greater Hartford and its many cultural and social service needs in dollars and volunteer time add to a satisfying work place for Bingham McCutchen employees, Papermaster said. It also helps explain why Bingham McCutchen has been ranked for the sixth consecutive year on FORTUNE’s 100 Best Companies to Work For list (number 12, this year, up from last year’s 30th place ranking) and only one of six law firms to be named.
“I think what distinguishes us from any other law firm in Connecticut,” said Papermaster, “is that this office could be anywhere. The people in this office could choose to work anywhere in the world. We’ve all chosen to live and work in Hartford because we like to live here. Having said that, our practice is not bound by the borders of Connecticut. We’re doing work all over the world. That makes it very exciting. In today’s technology driven environment you don’t have to be in New York or Paris or London to be doing world-class work. The good news is you could be doing it right here in Hartford.”
Type of business: Law firm
Connecticut employees: 92
Connecticut locations: 1
Headquarters: Hartford
Company contact: Eve Morton, regional director of human resources.
Top local executive: Daniel Papermaster, managing partner
Founded: 1991
