As anyone in public relations or psychology can tell you: Leaking from an organization signals deep internal discontent. Happy employees don't leak.
There have been lots of leakers among associates at law firm Jones Day. That's what Kathryn Rubino of Abovethelaw experienced when she invited Jones Day associates to comment on their compensation.
Essentially, reports Rubino, "No one is happy with compensation."
Many feel they are earning below market rate. And some of them have received good performance reviews. The problem is that, unlike many other law firms, Jones Day doesn't give bonuses. Here is Rubino's article.
This isn't the first time dissatisfaction with compensation at Jones Day has been outed. On Glassdoor, associates as well as non-lawyers at the law firm complained that they knew they were below market. Because Jones Day operates like a black box, no one knows what anyone else is earning.
However, the ethos of the firm is high professionalism to the point of almost cultishness. At the Rhode Island lead paint trial, defendant Sherwin-Williams was represented by Mickey Pohl from the Jones Day Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania office. Myriad other Jones Day brethren came from other offices to observe how Pohl was doing his magic.
They were so visible that I recommended to The Dilenschneider Group, which was doing public relations for a lead paint trade association, that all those Jones Day lawyers stay away. That is, if there was going to be another trial. There wasn't. Eventually the RI Supreme Court threw out the case. I was blogging the whole enchilada for The Dilenschneider Group.
My take was that what the blue-collar jurors "saw" were too many middle aged white lawyers in good suits hanging around the courtroom. Obviously, they weren't part of the prosecution. And, of course, the prosecution brought that up in the trial: They said that they were out-gunned by the number and resources of the defense lawyers. The jurors convicted Sherwin-Williams during that second trial.
When Crain's interviewed me about the verdict I put my finger on the how the white-shoe law firms, including Jones Day, played the jury all-wrong. The way I assessed it was that Jones Day lawyers might love the law but they didn't understand the fundamentals of the court of public opinion. It was odd that the defendants' own public relations representatives didn't clue in the lawyers about persona or leverage social media.
And Jones Day's lawyers still don't get public relations. Continually they seem to be putting their branding at risk. Just think about the firm's representing the Make America Great Campaign. And they keep giving the media opportunities to make fun of them.
Will Jones Day re-think its compensation and other aspects of its organizational culture? If Donald Trump loses it may have to do a reset on myriad things.