Organizational Culture

Leventhal, Mullaney & Blinkoff, LLP maintains a very unique organizational culture that effectively serves the goals of the firm. The firm consists of three partners and two other staff members. Though each staff member at the firm takes on a very individualized set of goals, the firm maintains shared goals and a high amount of collaboration. Each partner works their schedules around each other, as to maximize the workload and productiveness of the firm as a whole. 

The vast majority of the firm’s work schedule is determined weeks to months in advance of the actual days events occur. This is because family court cases, trials, and inquests are scheduled months in advance, as are village justice court dates and Zoning and Planning board meetings. Family court cases can span years, and village and town issues can take many months to complete. As a result, Leventhal, Mullaney & Blinkoff are constantly working on and keeping track of hundreds of cases. Resultantly, the entire law office is filled with case files, organized into a proper form of chaos. It is for this reason that my role of keeping things organized and updated was absolutely vital.

Interestingly, each partner works on a different form of law during different parts of the day, often based around the availability of courts and clients. Family court work generally makes up mornings in the office, while village and town attorney work almost always occurs after 3 p.m., while village and town court dates and meetings generally occur at night. By considering all of these details carefully, each partner is able to take on as much work as possible, all while never really needing to work on client outreach. This firm organization can only be described as methodically chaotic, as their schedule and file organization may appear insane to any onlooker, yet each member of the firm knows exactly where to find any document or piece of information at any moment. 

Lastly, this effective organization of firm activities far in advance makes the firm’s daily organization of activities rather relaxed. Nothing is ever really a time-pressured priority and different jobs can be completed at different times. Both Mr. Blinkoff and Mr. Leventhal work truly whenever they please, which also happens to be all the time, as both of them thoroughly enjoy their work. This allows the firm to take on a form of casual professionalism that truly benefits both the firm’s attorneys and clients. This was an excellent environment for me to be in and contribute to, and I have learned a lot about effective organization through my summer as an intern.