Is your identity at risk when you work for an accountancy-backed law firm? Elizabeth Goodrich claims that the opposite is true. Elizabeth Goodrich is a solicitor at Arnheim & Co.
What is it like working for the correspondent law firm of Price Waterhouse? I have been at Arnheim & Co for seven months now – long enough for all the warts to start showing and to know who to avoid around lunch time, but I can honestly say that things are looking good.
I moved to Arnheim & Co because I yearned for something more exciting, where someone like me could feel as if they counted. Being a start-up law firm means that everyone must pull their weight.
The good thing about Arnheim & Co is that it is not bogged down with that stuffy partnership hierarchy. In a corny Friends type of way we are all in it together. That is not to say that PW and Arnheim people link arms and sing campfire songs. However, there is something to be gained from this experience. PW people are polished professionals, with a progressive mentality which leads to investing in people and technology in a way that puts most law firms to shame. And, let's be honest, the PW client base is any law firm's dream. Sadly, although we share their office building, we do not (yet) share all their clients.
However, Arnheim & Co has many of its own clients who have followed our lawyers from their former firms. Its recruitment policy has proven to be effective and has attracted top quality lawyers.
Do not get me wrong, this place is not perfect and we certainly have our fair share of grievances, such as there being either too much work one week or too little work the next.
While having a cup of coffee one morning, I overheard a few people complaining about the next wave of office moves. We are highly specialised in airing our grievances over this issue as we are always on the move.
Evidently, this cannot be helped due to the stream of new starters. I am being moved to a river room after being stuck in a squash court since January, so I will not be complaining much – at least, not until the next round of moves which is imminent with the Coopers merger on the horizon.
Arnheim & Co expects to merge with Coopers correspondent law firm, Tite & Lewis. The general view here at Arnheim & Co is that, on the whole, the merger is a good thing, although we naturally reserve the right to harbour healthy suspicions about our new colleagues. Watch this space.
Finally, for the record, there are no bad guys, fruitcakes or madmen at Arnheim & Co and I have managed to avoid the lunch issue altogether by making it burn with the bean counters at the PW in-house gym.
