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.

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.

It’s real.

In fact, my biggest concern before interviewing with Counter was that Counter’s culture was just marketing and their claims of being an innovative law firm were just rhetoric. Counter’s hiring process was really long but, every time I met the Counter team, I could tell that they were truly friendly, open, and enthusiastic about working at Counter – not just because of how they treated me but because of how they interacted with each other. I could also tell that they were genuinely excited about building better ways to litigate and learn. My experience working with the team has confirmed that my early impressions were right.

Business professional for client meetings and other formal events. Business casual most other days. If you work in the office on a remote day, you can wear whatever.

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.

Attitude. We can teach skills, but we can’t teach attitude.

We are focused on building something bigger. And we’re truly “all in” for each other.

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.)

At times, yes. At other times, no. If you work here you’ll hear someone shout, “Does anyone need lunch?” or “Does anyone want to grab a salad?” every day. In most cases, the response is “I’m in!”. In some cases, it’s “You don’t win friends with salad”.

Our culture and environment resemble a software company mixed with a law firm, and we have really high standards. Most people that visit, or start working at Counter, find it really different to any place they've worked in the past. We do things like set really big goals, run daily stand-up meetings, have deep and honest conversations, and build a process or tool for everything. We’re organized, driven, and kinda funny.

Yes, we are crazy, but together we feel less crazy.