Why Roberta Kaplan’s Departure from Kaplan Hecker & Fink Is a Wake-Up Call for Law Firms
The Beginning of the End?
Roberta Kaplan founded Kaplan Hecker & Fink, a prominent New York law firm, in 2017, and it quickly gained national attention for its work in championing liberal causes. However, last fall, senior partners made the decision to sideline the founder, Roberta Kaplan, due to her harsh treatment of colleagues. Despite her impressive reputation as a leading figure in the #MeToo movement and as a lawyer who had won landmark cases, including a Supreme Court victory in support of marriage equality for gay Americans, the workplace environment she presided over was at times unbearable. Ms. Kaplan’s abrupt departure from the firm in June 2021 has sent shockwaves through the legal community, prompting discussion and reflection on what went wrong and how to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
Lawyer Leadership and Mistreatment of Colleagues
The reluctance of the law firm’s other named partners, including Sean Hecker and Julie Fink, to take action against Kaplan’s poor treatment of colleagues eventually prompted her removal from the management committee, a sharp rebuke for a founding partner. The final decision chain of events that culminated in her departure was months in the making, fueled in part by disagreements over strategy and management. While Ms. Kaplan’s case is not unique, it draws attention to broader issues surrounding lawyer leadership and the mistreatment of colleagues in the legal profession.
Assessing Legal Leadership: The Importance of Values and Ethics
Kaplan Hecker & Fink was founded on the premise that it would be a “values-driven” law firm free of the macho nastiness often seen at other elite firms. However, Kaplan’s abrasive conduct towards her colleagues indicates that her leadership style was not aligned with this philosophy. Several internal reviews suggest that her behavior was a significant impediment to the firm’s development and its ability to attract and retain valuable talent. Kaplan’s apparent lack of empathy towards her colleagues, coupled with micromanagement and vulgar insults, betrayed a lack of respect for the principles that her firm purportedly held dear. While it is hardly uncommon for leaders in the legal profession to engage in this kind of behavior, it is worth stressing that it is unacceptable and goes against the ethics and values that law firms should uphold.
Lessons Learned and the Way Forward
The legal profession has a long way to go in addressing this issue, but there are steps that law firms and lawyers can take to ensure that Kaplan’s behavior and its impacts on the workplace culture do not become the norm. Lawyers and law firms alike need to recognize that values and ethics
Originally Post From https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/28/business/roberta-robbie-kaplan.html
