When lawyers and others at the Irvine office of St. Louis-based Bryan Cave LLP do something noteworthy, they get a ringing bell.
It’s a signal for everyone to gather and recognize a big case that was won, a client that was signed or even someone getting married or having a baby.
“We are always ready to do a bell ringing,” said Ren Hayhurst, managing partner at the Irvine office. “It’s one of the fun, goofy traditions we have.”
The tradition was started by William Layman, who joined Bryan Cave when it absorbed Irvine’s Layman, Jones & Dye in 1995.
Layman, in addition to being a partner at the firm, also was the commodore of the Newport Beach Yacht Club.
“We were sitting ar-ound as a six-person group, still new to Bryan Cave, talking about our growth plans and how to celebrate our successes,” Hayhurst said. “It was actually a paralegal—who’s still with us—who suggested we follow the commodore’s lead and use a bell like they do at the yacht club.”
Thus the bell ceremony—complete with food and ice cream—was born.
“It is important to recognize the special efforts of individuals because it’s never all about the money,” said Bill Tate, a partner. “It’s a festive event.”
Bryan Cave ranked No. 2 in the large company category—250 or more employees—in the Business Journal’s second annual Best Places to Work list.
The firm employs about 65 people in Irvine but falls into the large company category for its nearly 2,500 employees firmwide and the big-employer benefits it offers to them.
The list was compiled for the Business Journal by Harrisburg, Pa.-based Best Companies Group, an independent workplace researcher that managed the registration process, conducted surveys, evaluated data and selected companies for the list based on overall scores from queries of management and employees.
Bryan Cave’s Irvine office meets regularly for town hall meetings to encourage employee input.
Partners host weekly and bimonthly meetings where everyone is invited to help with a particular client or matter. The meetings have borne fruit in the past, helping to resolve issues the partners might have missed.
“I had a client that would always end up paying 90 days late, but they always paid,” Tate said. “It came up in a meeting once, and one of the newest associates informed me that they were always late because they had to reformat our bills to their standards. It was because of this newest associate we were able to get the client to pay within 30 days after we recognized the problem.”
Family Interns
The open environment is one of the reasons Hayhurst and others have had their children intern at the firm during the summer.
“I like the atmosphere, which is why I felt good having my children work here,” Hayhurst said. “This is a place where they could learn good business skills from the good guy perspective.”
Bryan Cave offers employees an extensive benefits package that includes health, dental and vision insurance and a 401(k) matching program.
When the economy turned, the firm scaled back on the perks traditionally found at other law firms, including gym memberships, sporting event tickets and entertainment budgets, among others.
But Bryan Cave compensated with a fun committee headed by Tate and others to keep employees engaged and working together.
In the summer, the firm held its first Friday lunches where a rotating group of employees, on their own dime, brought food and decorations for the office.
“It became ultra competitive between groups as each lunch was bigger and better than the last,” Hayhurst said. “Everyone had a hoot.”
