The Pittsburgh I remember working in at Gulf Oil was not the kind of "creative-class" environment I would describe as "sassy and edgy." But, in his interview with CAREERIST's Vivia Chen, K&L Gates chair Peter Kalis certainly makes his part of the scene come across that way. It sounds more Seattle than Pittsburgh which also seemed to be more midwest than east coast. Kalis also captures an ethos more high-tech than law firmish. For its 2000 lawyers, the Pittsburgh branch of K&L Gates is the largest. So, I have to assume that the culture Kalis tells us exists in Pittsburgh is, more or less, representative of the law firm.
Calling law a "contact sport," Kalis posits that it's necessary for lawyers "to be intellectually nimble and confident." He wants "formidable." Not "malleable."
Those job applicants who ask the tough questions about how the firm has changed over the years and how effective it's been adapting to shifting realities get his attention. What turns him off is the self-absorbed. He claims he can pick up on that disposition by their body language and the fact that they make themselves the hero of the story. [My talk at the New York State Bar, which has been published in VITAL SPEECHES OF THE DAY, focuses on the the theme: we are our stories Download NYSBAtalkinVITALSPEECHESOFDAY.]
Also in Pittsburgh, as most of us know, is the very different Jones Day. The players like Mickey Pohl and Laura Ellsworth are familiar to us from the lead paint public nuisance litigation.
I have to wonder if K&L Gates and Jones Day attract very different kinds of clients. Or, does an organizational culture have little to do with business development? Will clients go to a firm because of its track record in certain forms of litigation, the stars, and the strategy it suggests to prospects?
It would be fascinating to observe the two firms compete for the same piece of business. In addition to being the contact sport Kalis refers to law as, it's also theatre. What kind of performance art would both firms stage?