In conjunction with its special section on Nashville’s legal industry, the Nashville Business Journal interviewed several local law firm leaders for an article on talent retention. Each leader was asked the question: “As more big firms come into town and all industries are experiencing the Great Resignation, what are you doing to retain talent?” Todd Rolapp, managing partner of Bass, Berry & Sims responded with the following:
We empower our people to shape a career that works for them. To that end, we have a dedicated team of individuals focused on programmatic engagement efforts, like our work allocation system, new partner training and development program, and career coaching. We also have programs, policies, and benefits that enrich our people’s lives like our 18-weeks of paid primary parental leave and 4-weeks paid secondary parental leave; affinity groups based on diversity and life stages like our working parents group; billable hour credit and fellowship opportunities for pro bono work; and billable hour credit for work advancing diversity and inclusion. As we approach firm-wide decisions around things like recruiting, compensation and hybrid work, we are agile and adaptive while remaining true to our culture. Culture can be a flimsy word in some law firms. But for us, culture is the foundation of all we do: it is what makes us unique, what binds us together, what engages our people, and what enables our firm to thrive. Good culture leads to engagement and motivates us to continue to show up and strive for more. In 2021, we took time to collaboratively define our culture to ensure our strategy and our day-to-day work across the organization reflect who we are and who we want to be for our people and our clients. We retain our competitive advantages by investing in individuals’ development, anticipating trends and leading from our culture.
The full article, “How Firms Are Retaining Nashville’s Lawyers,” was published on February 15 and is available online.