What's behind big law firms transition from Happy Hours to Social Hours.
Summer internships at a law firm are a competitive business. While you might naturally assume that it's the law students that are competing against one another for spots at the best firms, as it turns out, the law firms are just as equally competitive. I’m not quite sure when this tradition started, but it is a well established fact that part of the purpose of the firm during a summer internship is wooing the law student.
"The summer internship at a law firm is a unique experience."
How that plays out today is that the summer internship at a law firm is a unique experience. Some might even call it extravagant. From the moment a student accepts their offer to intern at a firm the following summer, the wooing begins. Offer gifts, Christmas gifts, and pre-summer swag are doled out to the future interns throughout the year to remind them of how well they’ve chosen. Planning for summer events begins as soon as the class is complete, and kicks into high gear around January. There will be concerts, ax throwing events, rock climbing, cooking classes, boat cruises, and more, planned for each week of the program by the time the students get their first assignment.
What does this have to do with the cocktail?
It is important to establish that this pattern of wooing the student with such grand gestures was established many, many years ago, when law firms were just rising to the powerhouses they are today. Times were different then. Diversity was not a hot topic, and the idea of gender equality was a distant narrative. It perhaps wasn’t Mad Men, but the idea of treating a summer associate to expensive scotch tastings, or including the best wines at a dinner hosted at a partner’s house, was certainly included as an absolute yes in the wooing process.
For that reason, the firm hosted happy hour and event after parties became a solid fixture of every well established law firm summer associate program. They were so essential, in fact, that even when law firms cut their programs drastically after the financial crisis of 2008 - in some cases going from 45 interns to 8 in one year - happy hours and firm hosted after parties never fluctuated from the programs.
“Suddenly it doesn't seem to be as much of a competitive advantage to be the firm with the most alcohol.”
Ten years later, however, the happy hour is under the microscope. Both diversity and wellness programs have helped raise questions about the message of the firm hosted happy hour, and with the rise of the #MeToo movement and the conversations it has inspired, suddenly it doesn’t seem quite as much of a competitive advantage to be the firm with the most alcohol.
That’s good right?
Yes and no. Certainly it’s good for the student, and for the future of the firm. Reducing the emphasis on alcohol concurrently reduces the firm’s liability should something untoward happen under its affects. Not to mention it reduces the likelihood of anything happening in the first place, keeping the students safer. Additionally, it can help support the student to make better decisions regarding drinking around their potential future bosses. Both are unquestionably good results and something that firms are behind 100%. However, part of the goal of having attractive events for the students is to ensure that partners and associates will attend as well. Ultimately they are the wooers, so it is important to get their participation. Free alcohol is the easiest way to ensure people will show up.
"Free alcohol is the easiest way to ensure people show up."
What’s the solution?
Enter the Social Hour. Renaming the happy hour as a social hour takes the focus off alcohol but still provides all the benefits of getting together in a relaxed environment. It allows those that enjoy a drink at the end of the day to continue to feel welcome to do so, without excluding those that would prefer to forgo. It also continues to offer the unstructured social interactions that was unique to the happy hour, without tying it to a certain kind of behavior - namely drinking.
If you want to evolve your firm while still ensuring enthusiastic participation from your associates and partners, I’d recommend censoring the cocktail and transitioning to the Social Hour. Let me know your thoughts, and what the results have been at your firm below!
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