Vogel Law Firm

You need to have a staff representative on Management Committee. And you need to learn about what your support staff needs and what they actually DO.

Compensation is the best in the region. Support staff is full of wonderful kind individuals.

The support staff at Vogel is full of amazing individuals. While the attorneys are very talented, many of them are the epitome of the negative lawyer stereotype (money driven, diva attitude, does little work but takes full credit, etc). There is very little diversity at Vogel. At least 98% white. Support staff is entirely female, while most of the controlling managing partners are older white men. The largest problem is a major disconnect between the Management and the support staff. They never bother getting to know who you are, what your job actually entails, etc. Yet, they are who has say over your employment. Vogel purports to want the best candidates, yet I personally saw multiple people with EXCEPTIONAL qualifications and expertise be let go or pushed out, and overqualification was mentioned as a reason. Rather than enriching those individuals, they were seen as a nuisance. While it could appear from the outside that support staff are valued at Vogel, as many have worked there for several years or more, they are not in actuality truly respected. Their titles never change as their job duties exponentially increase. The best workers while I was there were never heard or acknowledged. I saw several support staff make repeated reports of bullying/harassment from attorneys (some rather severe) and nothing was ever done to address it by management. This included things like degrading comments about personal appearance/weight, screaming/swearing at staff, demanding staff work unpaid overtime, repeated comments towards staff regarding their intelligence, intentional social exclusion, inappropriate over consumption/abuse of alcohol in the office/at work events etc. I saw several amazing employees get let go without any explanation or warning, while problem employees who struggled in their basic tasks are still there. I saw employees suddenly be let go or negatively affected after raising ethical concerns about an attorney's actions. I saw employees be let go immediately after requesting disability accommodations or be denied the accommodations. Information regarding individual employment issues/personal information is not protected - including that which is deemed confidential under the law and by company policy. Overall: Day to day at Vogel can be decent, if you are positioned with the right coworkers. And as far as pay, they are the best in the region for law firms. But as a non-attorney staff member, no matter how hard you work, or how much you show loyalty to the firm, you cannot expect that same commitment back from the firm - even when it is explicitly promised. In their words, they will seem wonderful. But there is zero follow through with action when it is necessary.

Robert Manly: Firm president. He is a decent person and nice guy. But he over promises as president and under delivers. If he took charge confidently and put some problem divas in their place, he could be an excellent leader. No need to avoid him entirely, but going to him for assistance as a leader is a waste of time. Lisa Edison-Smith: Treats support staff TERRIBLY to the point that staff are warned when hired. Is not focused on the Vogel team - only on her own cut of profit. Entirely out of touch with interpersonal relationship appropriateness in the office. Definitely acts as if she is on Management Committee, but she is not. Leads presentations on employment law including how to write an employee handbook, how to handle disability accommodations/harassment reports, how to treat employees well, etc. However, the Vogel handbook is exactly what her presentations warn against, and she is a prime example of a company liability when it comes to potential harassment complaints. In my time I know of 4 individuals who left the firm with her as the driving reason.

The support staff leaders were AMAZING.

I would like to see a new management team at this firm. A team that actually listens to their team and will be there around the clock to help them would be very nice.

I started working here as a somewhat new attorney and learned a lot of things hands on while working at this firm. Everyone was very helpful and the work environment is very casual.

There are a few higher ups that act as though they are better than you and will not listen to your input. They also tend to come and go as you please which can make taking the next step in a case quite difficult.