But it goes to show that the firm has not yet totally resolved the quality of life issues that set a select few highly successful firms apart from the rest. The firm pays close attention to the bottom line, says a source, and there are weekly meetings where they look at hours for the department. Most insiders report being very busy, but not excessively so. The firm tries to keep staffing lean, says a source. Usually, that means one partner and one associate per case.
Large cases are more heavily staffed.
Baker s work assignment system is described as unstructured. Work generally comes from the head of the employment practice group, but associates occasionally help out another group. Once a relationship is established, a lot of work comes directly from clients. A given associate is often called upon to handle a huge number of matters at one time. One associate reports having almost 100 matters going on, although they are on a smaller scale than average.