Richard Simpson
About this Executive:
Name:
Richard Simpson
Company:
Bricker & Eckler LLP
Interview Topics:
Corporate and Professional Services
Region:
Region 1 - Central Ohio
Bricker & Eckler LLP is one of Ohio's leading law firms. Located in Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Dayton, the firm represents individuals, corporations, nonprofit organizations, government agencies, health care facilities, school districts and municipalities.
The firm provides superior client service through focusing on the industries in which its clients do business. Bricker & Eckler's team of experienced attorneys specialize in a number of distinctive practice areas.
Bricker & Eckler Managing Partner Richard Simpson is the former chair of the firm's bond, structured and public finance department, with a practice in municipal bonds and corporate law, emphasizing general obligation and utility revenue bond and note financings for municipalities, school districts and other political subdivisions. He also provides general corporate representation emphasizing finance.
Simpson is a frequent lecturer on bond-related topics for the Ohio Municipal League, Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association, Buckeye Association of School Administrators and the Ohio School Boards Association. He has also served as lead bond counsel for several hundred municipal bond financings throughout the state.
He is a member of the American, Ohio State and Columbus Bar Associations, a member of the National Association of Bond Lawyers and former member of the National Steering Committee of Bond Attorneys' Workshop.
I wanted to know what the esteemed legal firm thinks of Ohio's labor pool and its colleges and universities. What I found was that it doesn't have to look much outside of Ohio—many of the country's most promising legal minds are right in its own backyard.
Q: How does Ohio's labor pool match up to the needs of Bricker & Eckler?
A: Bricker & Eckler employs about 150 lawyers and 180 support staff across Ohio. It is typical for us to annually hire about 15 lawyers—counting both new graduates and experienced, lateral attorneys—and perhaps twice that number in support staff. We are fortunate to be located in Ohio, a state that has an extraordinary number of private colleges and public universities. We have found a consistently deep pool of qualified applicants for our positions year after year.
Q: As the Generation Y enters the workforce, what do you think makes Bricker & Eckler attractive to young professionals seeking an attainable work:life balance?
A: According to what I am reading and am personally observing, the ability to achieve an effective balance between work and life away from the office is especially important to the Generation Y employees. If we are going to be successful keeping these individuals at our firm over the long term, which is very important to us, we must create a working environment that allows for them to find that balance. We work hard to find ways to demonstrate our commitment as an organization to their needs. The firm emphasizes flexibility in terms of career paths, training and development programs, affirmation of diversity, and meaningful work experiences at the earliest possible time.
Q: The quality of an academic system is an important consideration in selecting a location for capital investment. What is your opinion of Ohio's academic system?
A: Ohio is blessed to have many of the finest public school districts in the United States. All of the major metropolitan areas have several districts that offer truly outstanding programs, with the kind of educational opportunities that would be available only at private schools in some states.
At the higher-education level, Ohio has been a national leader for decades. There are literally dozens of small, private liberal arts colleges, such as Baldwin Wallace College, Oberlin College, Kenyon College and Case Western Reserve University with outstanding national reputations, as well as large public universities and community colleges in every part of the state, offering top-quality undergraduate and graduate programs in virtually every field. Ohio's academic institutions are attracting students from across the country and around the world. I believe higher education is, in fact, one of the state's strongest growth industries.
Q: You seem impressed with Ohio's academic institutions, has Bricker & Eckler partnered with any of those institutions? If so, how has the collaboration benefited the firm?
A: This year, Bricker & Eckler has partnered with the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University to create a customized Leadership Development Program to help us address a challenge many major law firms face, which is the lack of leaders trained to fill the many leadership positions within our organization. Lawyers as a rule don't receive this kind of training in law school. They are taught to be advocates and adversaries, not leaders or managers of people. The first "cohort" of our lawyers started the 11-segment program in January and will finish in June. We are getting rave reviews from the 25 participants, and expect to see a tangible return on our investment in the form of improved operations across the firm. Having the resources of one of the country's largest and finest research universities right in our backyard, with creative minds ready to go to work to solve our particular problems, has made this program possible and cost-effective.
Q: "The Ohio Promise" is that you can achieve professional success within the context of a fulfilling life. How authentic do you think the promise is, especially in the eyes of young professionals?
A: Every year our firm is in the market recruiting eight or 10 new law school graduates. We compete for this talent against law firms nationwide. For us to be successful in attracting the best and brightest new lawyers, professionals who can pick and choose among job offers from firms in virtually any city, we must be able to convince them that they can in fact "have it all" by choosing to come with us. We tell them that they can have a sophisticated, intellectually challenging law practice in a comfortable environment among supportive colleagues, as well as the opportunity to live and raise a family in a great community with outstanding schools, easy commutes and all the amenities. In other words, they can live a successful, fulfilling, balanced life.
But this "sales pitch" won't work unless it is true. These are very smart people. We can't pull the wool over their eyes. If what we are describing is not real, they will know it in a heartbeat and they will choose to go elsewhere. Fortunately, I am happy to report that we have been very successful in attracting the kind of talent we want. The "Ohio Promise" you refer to is quite authentic. Young professionals who are looking for that kind of balance in their lives can easily find it here.