Collégialité et bureaucratie dans les firmes américaines d'avocats d'affaires

Abstract

Collegiality and Bureaucracy in American Corporate Law Firms. This article summarizes existing literature pertaining to the organizational form of American corporate law firms (the Cravath model), and the current changes experienced by such firms resulting from market pressures and internal growth processes. These changes correspond to the bureaucratization of structure (increased hierarchical organization, departmentalization, polycentric arrangements) and management policies (concerning such issues as work flow, compensation, marketing, evaluation of work quality, management of associates). The author also describes the resistance offered by the collegial form to this bureaucratization, as well as the emergence of new organizational forms (mega-firms, franchized firms, multi-disciplinary partnerships), and the resulting debates concerning the redefinition of professionalism. Given the future uncertainty of the American model in the United States context and the spreading of the Cravath model in continental Europe, European firms will undoubtedly encounter similar changes and difficulties.