Why Is Jones Day Different?The "why" is harder to explain than the "how." All successful institutions share certain values; that is what makes them more than just an expense-sharing device. And many large law firms would no doubt assert that the values laid out below are part of their foundation values. We can’t speak to other firms, but we can say that our basic values have been at the foundation of Jones Day from its inception, and continue to guide our lawyers in providing service to our clients. These values dictate the Firm’s approach to every issue, internal or external, that it faces, and include:
Integrity, both individually and institutionally, in dealings with our clients, the courts, our adversaries, and among ourselves;
A sense of personal accountability for every decision, judgment, and action on behalf of our clients or the Firm;
A level of competence which is marked by creativity and judgment that makes the quality and value of our services distinctive, and which our lawyers will enhance by continued professional growth;
A dedication to our clients' interests and an intensity of effort which distinguish our lawyers from others in the profession;
An independence which does not detract from dedication to the interests of our clients but which always enables us to determine, and to advise, what is in the best interests of our clients;
Courage in representing our clients in hostile and sometimes individually threatening environments;
An understanding of our clients that makes us more sensitive to their concerns and objectives and a discipline that makes us more responsive to their needs;
A determination to provide quality legal services to our clients with real efficiency and within an organization structured to facilitate, rather than to impede, the achievement of these objectives;
A true unity of purpose among our lawyers which places the welfare of our clients and the Firm above that of any practice, region, office, or individual; and
Commitment to this Firm as a professional endeavor, composed of people who have the same professional values and aspirations, the most important of which are contained in these principles.
The success of this Firm has been achieved because of our adherence to these principles as individual lawyers and as an institution that takes its collective obligations seriously. Integrity is the most basic demand we make of each other; it is simple honesty in all dealings. It is an uncompromising, non-negotiable demand. Accountability is the willing acceptance of personal responsibility for every aspect and detail of one’s own practice, the services rendered to our clients, and the professional reputation of the Firm. Integrity is a principle seldom tested; accountability is an almost hourly responsibility, as we make decisions, exercise our judgment, take action and delegate various tasks on behalf of our clients and the Firm throughout each working day.
The ever-changing requirements and service techniques of the contemporary marketplace, while they cannot be ignored, cannot substitute for legal competence as the basis of the services we provide. Mere competence, however, is not enough. For the practices we have chosen to pursue, success depends not only on high levels of professional knowledge, but also on judgment, creativity and the skill to use that knowledge for the benefit of our clients in the solution of their problems and the resolution of controversies in which they become engaged. Indeed, these additional factors are a great part of the value that our lawyers add to client service.
Moreover, clients today expect not only superior legal skills, but also an intimate understanding of the industry and business environment in which they function and a focus on the efficient accomplishment of their objectives in every engagement. What Jones Day expects of each of its lawyers is a commitment to the legitimate interests of these clients and an intensity of effort which clients, courts and other counsel will immediately recognize sets this Firm and its lawyers apart from others in the profession.
Independence is, of course, the dominant trait of the true professional and the primary reason we have elected to practice law in preference to other occupations. Independence, like competence, is what brings clients to Jones Day and keeps them coming back. Independence in no way dilutes our dedication to the affairs of our clients. It does, however, require us to determine and to advise, clinically and dispassionately, what is in the client’s interest within the limits of applicable legal and ethical principles. It is a quality closely aligned with courage, which requires that we remain resolute under the most trying circumstances, even where there is a risk to us individually or collectively in advancing our clients’ interests, or of losing clients because of carefully considered and correct advice that they cannot accept.
The accomplishment of our objectives as a Firm requires an abiding loyalty from each of our lawyers to the Firm as a whole and unrelenting insistence on the necessary cooperation of our lawyers to deliver the best of the Firm to every client engagement. We cannot, however, permit the size, success or structure of the Firm to obscure the fact that, at its core, the Firm is the individual working lawyer who provides client service with talent, industry and dedication. The Firm as an institution plays various unifying and supporting roles: to help identify essential client needs, to facilitate and support client service, to help develop and reward distinguished lawyers, and to foster a binding confidence in us among our clients and in each other among ourselves.
Read More »
Show Less »