Organizational Structure at a Small Law Firm

One aspect of the organizational structure at my site is the important context of its founding. Asurest was founded by an alumni of the Jepson School of Leadership Studies and therefore the values which Jepson students are taught about leadership are inherently built into the structure of the workplace. One example of this is that leadership consistently makes an effort to communicate and collaborate with the entire site. The ideas of everyone are freely permitted to entire the discussion and valued when making decisions. Another example is that Asurest defies the traditional norms of the industry in the way that they operate. The typical perception of law is that it is expensive and often unattainable. However, the history of Asurest’s founding and the site’s connection to leadership studies meant that the site strove to change these norms. Asurest offers late meeting hours for clients with multiple jobs, cheaper rates, and provided online meeting opportunities even prior to COVID-19. This also leads me to discuss the second aspect of Asurest’s organizational structure which is how people at my site interacted both formally and informally during the time that I spent there. On a typical day, my informal communication with Asurest came at the beginning of the day. I would talk with my site supervisor to see the plan for the day. We would casually discuss which meetings were planned as well as the expectations for each one. Formal communication occurred when I could sit in on client meetings during the day, as well as during meetings with our social media assistant. Occasionally, depending on the meetings during the day, I could talk to my site supervisor casually to reflect on what happened during the meetings I attended. The combination of formal and informal communication helped me to feel like a real part of the company as well as providing me with the information I needed to understand estate planning law. These aspects of organization at Asurest made my experience interning in the field of law, a field that had the potential to be overwhelming for an undergraduate student, attainable. I recognize that it is these small details in how a company is organized that alter crucial elements of how they are perceived both internally and externally.