Our law firm. Your career questions.*

We don’t enforce culture. We don’t use force. We work, intentionally, to create and foster the culture that serves us. It starts with identifying people who are experts and who are aligned with our culture and values. When you hire the right people, things are easier (not easy, just easier). I know that everyone on the team has good intentions and has my back. And that’s a good start.

No. We’re focused on doing great legal work, and increasing the depth and quality of our analysis. We're focused on winning and finding better ways to get from here to there. We believe that technology can help.

Honestly, you can’t. We could try to explain how our culture transforms the standard office experience, how we aim to evolve the legal practice, or why we won’t stop talking about circles and accountabilities, but there’s no way to do that without sounding a little cultish. So, let’s say that Counter’s culture needs to be experienced first-hand.

Everybody at Counter wants everyone else to succeed and excel. Our understanding of “competition” is different in that we're competing against ourselves, not each other. This manifests as a culture of teaching, trust, and support. The people at Counter set the bar high in everything we do, and we know that the only way to accomplish our personal and team goals is to help everyone else create their best work.

I thought a lot of what was on Counter's website was written just for marketing purposes, but it surprised me when I found it to be true. It was really refreshing because Counter is not trying to be something it's not just to gain attention, publicity, and a laugh. It accurately depicts Counter.

We believe in being authentic and true to ourselves.

It depends. We’ll talk.

Highly collaborative environment. We believe in collective intelligence, and we value different perspectives and ideas. We always pursue the best idea or argument rather than blindly accepting the idea or argument of the most senior person in the room. Our office layout encourages collaborative work, e.g., open office, breakout spaces, collaboration screens and systems, etc.

We take pride in our unwavering commitment to delivering outstanding results and experiences to our clients. Our focus remains on continuous (individual and collective) improvement and innovation within our context. We believe that by consistently striving for excellence and embracing a holistic approach, we can achieve the highest tax litigation standards and results.

We are working on figuring this out. We call it “Missing Core Value #6”. It’s like a missing jigsaw piece, and trying to find it is driving us a little crazy. We are playing with “Give”, “Be Selfless”, “Commit”, “All in”, and “Partners”.

We think it has to do with how we invest in each other or how we look out for one another. It has to do with how we are all committed to putting each other in the best position. It’s about putting you ahead of me and knowing that, when it comes time, you will do the same thing.

If you find the right word for this kind of thing, let us know. Immediately. (Ideally, it would be a one-word verb that’s not lame, but hey, we’ll take what you’ve got.)

Our firm's culture centers on a strong ethos of personal responsibility and collaboration. We encourage each team member to take full ownership of their roles and contributions. This sense of autonomy goes hand in hand with a commitment to continuous learning and proactive problem-solving. We value creativity, open communication, and diverse perspectives, creating an environment where feedback is constructive and everyone feels empowered to contribute. By fostering individual accountability within a supportive community, we enhance individual development and collective success, ensuring a balanced and dynamic workplace.

Our relationships, high standards, hunger to build the law firm we want to see in the world, and humility.

We don’t have a success mantra. It’s a good idea. We’re going to think about this and come up with something. In the interim, I guess our organizational purpose is our success mantra.

Here is Counter’s current (and always evolving) purpose:

To deliver better tax litigation outcomes using new ways of seeing, thinking, and executing so that people create and grow more successful organizations.

Now, I’m going to spend lunch developing a success mantra with other Counterparts.