Professional Staff
Jimerson Birr, P.A. offers clients a customer-focused and cost-effective alternative to larger business law firms.
Frequently Asked Questions: Professional Staff
- Where is this firm at, where is it going and why should I want to be a part of it?
- What core values and guiding principles does the firm value the most?
- How would you describe the firm’s client base and how do you see the firm’s client base growing in the future?
- What sets this firm apart in the way that it provides legal services to its clients?
- How would you describe the firm’s culture?
- What types of people work at this firm and why would I enjoy working with them?
- How will working at this firm help me grow as a person and a professional?
- What does the firm do to encourage its staff to be stewards of the community and have a life outside of work?
- How will I know that my voice will be heard and my work will be appreciated?
- How does this firm stay abreast of technological innovation in the industry to ensure its lawyers and staff are working with the best resources available?
- In what ways is the firm dedicated to training, mentorship and ongoing professional development of its attorneys and staff?
- How does the firm’s compensation and benefits structure work?
- Does the firm have flexibility for me to work non-traditional schedules or work remotely?
- How would you describe the leadership and management structure and style of the firm?
- What opportunities for growth and career advancement exist for me at the firm? How can I be a leader at this firm?
- What will it take for me to be successful at the firm?
- What does the firm look for in its administrative staff members?
- Will I have an opportunity to get more legal experience in an area that I am interested in?
- What does the firm do to focus on staff retention of legal support who apply?
Where is this firm at, where is it going and why should I want to be a part of it?
Jimerson Birr is a full-service business law firm that provides a one-stop shop for businesses and executives. During the past decade, our award winning firm has established itself as one of the fastest growing law firms in the country. This is the product of our engaged and motivated attorneys who deliver customized, client-focused solutions. Watch this video to learn more about our firm’s trajectory:
What core values and guiding principles does the firm value the most?
Each member of our firm is responsive, competent, collaborative and personally accountable. Cultivating a culture of trust between the firm, it’s clients and each other is what we do best. This starts by putting our client’s big picture needs first at all times, and delivering timely, effective and “on budget” legal solutions. The quality of our legal work is reflected by the high standards we each set for ourselves, and measured by our ability to live up to those standards. Watch this video to learn more about why we are not a workplace that confuses efforts with results:
You represent businesses, how exciting could that possibly be?
Businesses face a number of challenges every day. Jimerson Birr is dedicated to helping businesses meet these challenges. While the generic term of “business law” may sound impersonal, it is important to remember that businesses are made up of people, and businesses provide jobs for those people. Those jobs can be vehicles to achieving the dreams of the employees who work with those businesses. The more people we can help remain employed, the better the chances are for us to make a broader impact on the community at large. The clients of Jimerson Birr spark innovation and provide opportunities for many people, including women and minorities, to achieve financial success and independence. So, when Jimerson Birr helps businesses meet their challenges, we are helping those businesses stay alive and helping those jobs to survive. When you give it that context, how can you not be excited to give back to the community in that way?
How would you describe the firm’s client base and how do you see the firm’s client base growing in the future?
We are a global-reaching, multi-practice law firm that represents individuals, public companies and private enterprises in an array of industries including:
- Banking and Financial Services
- Cannabis
- Communications & Media
- Community Associations
- Construction
- Education
- Energy and Utilities
- Franchising
- Governmental Entities
- Healthcare
- Hospitality
- Insurance
- Manufacturing and Distribution
- Professional Services
- Real Estate Development, Sales & Leasing
- Technology
- Transportation and Logistics
Our lawyers serve as counsel to a broad range of local, regional and national businesses. Jimerson Birr values these incredible relationships, so we work hard everyday to continue to earn their business. Watch this video to learn more about how this focus on relationships will help us continue to grow:
What sets this firm apart in the way that it provides legal services to its clients?
How would you describe the firm’s culture?
Jimerson Birr is an employee-oriented and professionally fulfilling law firm made up of ambitious achievers who have respect for themselves as well as their clients, colleagues, profession, family and community. We work hard, we have fun, and we enjoy each other, so it should be no surprise that year after year we win local and statewide awards as being one of the best companies to work for. Watch this video to learn more about what it feels like to work here:
What types of people work at this firm and why would I enjoy working with them?
Employees of Jimerson Birr share many common threads such as a persistent positive attitude, consistent personal accountability, team-oriented sensibility, strong work ethic and habitual goal-setting. Everyone here at the firm is self-empowered, and we take ownership of our own lives and careers. You’d like working here if you are the type of person who wants to be better today than you were yesterday. Watch this video to learn more about who we are:
How will working at this firm help me grow as a person and a professional?
At Jimerson Birr, we think it’s important for employees to grow both personally and professionally. It’s important to continually challenge yourself and not be stuck in a job where you don’t feel like you are growing or learning. We believe that inside every employee is more potential than even the employee realizes. Our goal is to help employees realize and unlock that potential in a way that leaves them personally and professionally fulfilled.
Our firm has achieved phenomenal growth because we take on new challenges, and we face many additional challenges because we’re growing. It’s an uninterrupted cycle, and we consider that a good thing. The new challenges that our firm accepts take us to places we couldn’t even imagine possible. We have found that accepting life’s challenges allow us to feel more thrills and exhilaration in our victories. We view our willingness to achieve as embracing the opportunity to become who we really are.
One small recognition of these efforts are the multiple statewide and local awards we’ve earned as being a “Best Places to Work.” People enjoy working at our firm because they trust the people they work for and with, they take pride in what they do, they are well compensated, and they enjoy working with their co-workers.
What does the firm do to encourage its staff to be stewards of the community and have a life outside of work?
Jimerson Birr places a large emphasis on being stewards of the community, getting involved in the community and giving back to the community. We try to lead by example by having monthly events that are dedicated to giving back. The activities range from volunteering to help feed the hungry at places like Clara White Mission, to taking donations from employees for vets, Toys for Tots, and the Humane Society. Our firm, in a formal and informal way, has a proven track record of promoting engagement in the communities we live and work. If our employees are passionate about a cause, we are apt to throw firm resources behind it and support it as a group. We encourage members of our team to provide names of non-profits that are dear to them so we can find a way to give back to those that have had a direct impact on our team members. We actively hire people who are trustees of their communities and who are looking to make the world a better place.
Jimerson Birr also recognizes the importance of family. While we view each of our team members as a work family, we understand that there are spouses, children and other relatives that need us, too. We maintain a flexible work environment that allows our employees to achieve work-life balance. We have our priorities right in this regard and understand that while our mission is important, so are those people who we are working so hard to provide for. We foster a work environment that seeks to incorporate our loved ones into our work family. We often organize family friendly events outside of work, such as picnics to firm parties, baseball games and trips to the beach. Families are an important part of the individuals we employ, and we welcome their company whenever we can.
And while we know how to work hard, we also understand there needs to be time to play; to just relax or unwind and let go of the work environment. We provide a performance structure that allows great flexibility in being able to take personal time when that time is needed. Our firm is one that is dedicated to professional fulfillment by employing happy, healthy and well-balanced employees who are empowered to take charge of their life and career trajectory.
How will I know that my voice will be heard and my work will be appreciated?
At Jimerson Birr, ideas, suggestions and comments are welcomed from everyone at all levels. We find that it provides a much better environment for overall employee satisfaction, as well as elicits a greater variety of ways we can improve as a whole. Our employees are empowered, with malleable boundaries of management, where our employees are able to make their own decisions with broad freedom to act.
Our management listens intently to our employees and believes in them. We aim to discover what each person does best and put them in a place to accentuate their positives. We all take time to hear each other out, and we make a concerted effort to recognize those for jobs well done.
It should be noted that we are a firm that forgives mistakes. If our team isn’t making occasional mistakes, then we aren’t reaching high enough. We try to establish clear differences between acceptable mistakes versus mission-critical offenses and treat situations as teachable moments rather than impetus to punish.
Our firm is clear in seeking individual input on personal and firm-wide growth paths. Everything in life — including people — changes. Our firm knows that if we don’t give people room to grow, we will force them to either leave our business or grow stagnant. We don’t want either of those results, so we are always looking to collaborate with our employees to provide robust ways for each individual to grow.
How does this firm stay abreast of technological innovation in the industry to ensure its lawyers and staff are working with the best resources available?
In what ways is the firm dedicated to training, mentorship and ongoing professional development of its attorneys and staff?
How does the firm’s compensation and benefits structure work?
In today’s legal market, law firms are fiercely competing to attract the best people to be a part of the firm. We have long recognized that our desire to increase our intellectual capital correlates directly to the firm’s compensation package. We fully understand that the better the overall plan, the more attractive the organization will be to qualified candidates. Furthermore, we have incorporated a philosophy that a well-developed compensation strategy helps keep employees satisfied and drives higher organizational performance.
We value the collective work and contributions of all individual members of the firm. As part of our efforts to stay competitive, Jimerson Birr regularly evaluates our compensation package against peers in our industry and marketplace. Management aligns the employees’ work to the firm’s overall success and mission. Then we use a performance management program where individual goals are linked to the firm’s strategic and operational goals. That delivers a fair, equitable, and consistent approach to compensation for all employees.
The firm also recognizes individual results through use of an annual merit review process, based on performance and goals achievement. We will always provide a competitive overall compensation package, including a competitive base salary, performance-based bonusing, benefit programs for employees and their dependents, retirement savings opportunities, profit sharing opportunities, and optional work/life programs. For further details, please inquire within.
Does the firm have flexibility for me to work non-traditional schedules or work remotely?
We do not take a “one size fits all” approach to planning alternative work arrangements. We believe that a team thrives when its members work together and next to each other to achieve that unique synergy. For that reason, we prefer employees work from the office as much as possible. At the same time, we know that flexibility makes it possible to build the career you love and the life you deserve. We also recognize that sometimes individuals may be productive and efficient when they can work from outside of the office. To that end, we regularly provide our legal support staff with the opportunity to work from home or in a secure remote capacity from time-to-time. We fully understand that there are life circumstances that require schedule flexibility, and that balance can be achieved without sacrificing the needs of the firm’s clients. We aim to accommodate specialized requests, however, we do not currently offer any staff positions that are 100% remote or work-from-home.
How would you describe the leadership and management structure and style of the firm?
What opportunities for growth and career advancement exist for me at the firm? How can I be a leader at this firm?
Every success story is a tale of constant revision, adaptation and change. The firm’s story is no different. We cannot become what we want to be by remaining what we are. As a firm that doubles its investment in its personnel, there is no way the firm can do anything but triple its present success. The firm will always continue to challenge its limits and create its own opportunities. What that means for each individual working at the firm is up to that individual.
On the surface, the firm offers three types of growth opportunities to current employees and candidates looking at continuing their careers with Jimerson Birr. First and foremost, it offers competitive financial opportunities. The firm will always remain committed to providing competitive compensation and benefits packages to personnel at all levels. Individual performers who perform at a level beyond their peers will always be rewarded with above-market wages.
Second, our firm provides plenty of growth potential for professional advancement. As a firm with a lifelong commitment to learning, we are an organization skilled at creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge, and at modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights. Our firm’s advancement is predicated on innovation and providing value added services to our clients. This requires us to embrace a simple truth: new ideas are essential if learning is to take place. Sometimes they are created de novo, through flashes of insight or creativity; at other times they arrive from outside the organization or are communicated by knowledgeable insiders. Whatever their source, these ideas are the trigger for organizational improvement. This thirst for knowledge and improvement will ensure that every member of our firm will always have an opportunity to grow and expand- in responsibilities, authority and influence. So long as you are the type of person who is focused on uplifting others, you will always have great influence at our firm. Our firm is built to provide opportunities for those who help build it.
Lastly, our firm provides a strong platform for those motivated by personal growth opportunities. If you care about your professional success, then constant development is nothing new to you. Professional success is closely connected to personal development, even though in corporate America, professional development gets less attention than the development of certain skills needed to get the job done. Through our commitment to a well-balanced corporate culture, we’ve found that when personal development at work is given the attention it deserves, it helps the firm achieve truly outstanding results for its clients and employees. The firm only finds success when the results it obtains for its clients are achieved by healthy, happy, well-compensated employees. Our collegial, yet professional office atmosphere is comprised of people who are achievers and moving in the right direction in life. That is not by accident. We hire only that type of person, find out what motivates that particular person in business and in life, and then we fight like hell to help that person achieve all of their goals.
What will it take for me to be successful at the firm?
What does the firm look for in its administrative staff members?
We have a diverse smattering of employees at this firm who come from different walks of life and all have interesting stories of how they got here today. There are a lot of common threads, though.
The only two qualifications required from any applicant for any available position are personal accountability and positive attitude. If you were to look up and down our roster, you’d find people who have a “can do” mental state, and they expect the best to happen. They’re in the habit of believing that the mission can be accomplished, and staying committed to accomplishing that mission.
Our firm is comprised of people who are self-empowered and take ownership of their lives and career trajectory. They’re given as much supervision or autonomy as they need to do their job well and be professionally fulfilled.
Our firm is a group of achievers who have a strong work ethic. They are goal-oriented people who are used to setting goals, achieving goals, setting loftier goals and repeating this process. You’d like our firm if you are the type of person who wants to be better today than you were yesterday. Lastly, our firm is one that functions as a cohesive team. No individual within the firm is more important than the firm and its mission. Our firm has an acute understanding that the success of Jimerson Birr is predicated on the combined efforts of individuals acting in concert.
So, if you like working with people who are great at what they do, who have a blast doing it, who want to make each other better, and who want to achieve all their goals and help their co-workers do the same, you’d fit in well with us. If those things don’t appeal to you, well, best of luck to you.
Will I have an opportunity to get more legal experience in an area that I am interested in?
Simply put, yes. There are no weak links at our firm. If you are an attorney at our firm, we will expect you to be front facing, whether that is in a courtroom or a boardroom. By the standards of the rest of the industry, we overtrust our personnel. We do this because we:
- hire great people;
- train them well;
- provide them with mentorship and limited oversight;
- watch them flourish; and
- celebrate their successes.
So far, that model has worked out very well for us. Our culture is one that encourages our attorneys to accept as much responsibility and autonomy as they are willing or able to accept. Our trust in our lawyers and legal support staff is our highest form of motivation. It brings out the very best in people.
What does the firm do to focus on staff retention of legal support who apply?
The way in which we attract and retain top talent is through a variety of methods. First, we have a tried and true process for onboarding and orientation. Every new hire is set up for success from the very start, from the first day of work, onto the first week, and beyond. We aim to develop an onboarding process where new team members not only learn about the job, but also the company culture and how they can contribute and thrive, with ongoing discussions and opportunities to address questions and issues as they arise. We try to start off on the right foot with every new employee and invest in their professional development.
Second, our firm philosophy is that in order to attract top talent, it is absolutely essential to offer attractive and competitive compensation packages. We are not only competitive with our salaries, but also bonuses, paid time off, health benefits, retirement plans, profit sharing and all the other small perks that come to make a big difference. We’ve found that our firm’s total compensation and benefits package consistently compares favorably to competitors in our markets.
Third, we care deeply about recognizing a job well done. Every person wants to feel appreciated for what they do. We make it a habit to thank our employees when they go the extra mile, whether with a sincere personalized communication, banging of our firm gong to share the success, a gift card, a charitable contribution, or an extra day off, we have many ways in which we share our gratitude for exceptional performance.
Fourth, Jimerson Birr knows that a healthy work-life balance is essential. As mentioned above, we do not take a “one size fits all” approach to work schedules. We have several different internal checks and balances to ensure that a comfortable state of equilibrium can be achieved between an employee’s primary priorities of their employment position and their private lifestyle. Our management understands that the demands of an employee’s career should not overwhelm the individual’s ability to enjoy a satisfying personal life outside of the business environment.
Fifth, our firm truly values open communication and cultivates a platform for bilateral feedback. We have a true open-door policy at the firm. Many may claim to, but we practice it. Our policy is designed to increase communication by providing a safe and secure way for all employees to provide new ideas, questions, voice concerns and resolve issues. There is a clear chain of command at each employee’s disposal to communicate through if needed. While we have a vehicle for informal feedback, Jimerson Birr also has a formal feedback process. The formal feedback occurs annually through our internal self-assessment reflections and reviews. At this time employees give and get 360 degree reviews. This helps the firm benchmark their performance and make new goals. To ensure the reviews are not a surprise, we also have periodic informal meetings where managers meet with employees to discuss how things are going on a monthly, if not weekly, basis.
Sixth, our firm has had success in retaining its personnel because we’ve fostered teamwork. When people work together, they can achieve more than they would have individually. Jimerson Birr promotes a culture of collaboration that accommodates individual working styles and lets their talents shine. We do this by clarifying team objectives, business goals and roles, and encouraging all members to contribute ideas and solutions.
Lastly, our firm believes in celebrating major milestones for individuals and for the team. Whether a team just crushed it in the courtroom or an employee brought home a new baby, we seize the chance to celebrate together. We have found that the more we praise and celebrate our personal and professional lives, the more there is to celebrate.