Our DNA: Culture, Collaboration, and Community

At O’Melveny, we know that how we do things is as important as what we do. And what we do is perform transformative legal work for industry-leading companies.

Our lawyers, staff, clients, and other friends all say the same thing: What defines the O’Melveny experience is the combination of our culture, our commitment to true collaboration, and our belief in the importance of community. Together, they anchor our many enduring client relationships; our contributions to the communities—legal, business, and global—that define our lives and our work; and the nurturing and supportive environment that helps our clients, lawyers, and business professionals achieve their best results.

Culture We know our culture is at the core of our success. So do our clients. And so does the marketplace.

• Consistently honored for our professional excellence, O’Melveny is a fixture on workplace “best of” lists.
• 11 consecutive years on the A-List—The American Lawyer’s measure of the “best of the best.”
• A long-running track record in Vault’s annual law firm survey: we’ve placed in the Top 3 for “Best Law Firm to Work For” for 9 years in row and in the Top 3 for “Best Overall Diversity” for 7 straight years.
• 8 consecutive years in the Top 4 of The American Lawyer’s Midlevel Associates Survey, including #1 rankings for Technology over the past 3 years.
• We start by asking every client, “What do you want to achieve?”—the same thing we ask everyone who joins the O’Melveny team. It speaks to our shared purpose, helping every lawyer, staff member, and client achieve their fullest potential—one of many things that make O’Melveny stand out.
• Our culture explains our enviable lawyer and staff retention: one-third of our partners and more than 100 staff members have called O’Melveny “home” for 20 or more years. 
• Diversity, equity, and inclusion are core values and priorities for O’Melveny.

Collaboration Fortune 500 companies, innovative startups, and non-profit advocates—clients of all kinds count on O’Melveny’s promise of signature service and unwavering focus.

• O’Melveny believes that the best and most creative solutions require two kinds of collaboration:
• collaboration among O’Melveny professionals to leverage the full value of our collective experience and expertise, and
• collaboration between O’Melveny teams and their clients to ensure that every client benefits from strategic advice customized to its cultural and business priorities.
• We believe that complex challenges and unprecedented opportunities require fresh thinking. To inspire true creativity, we assemble and empower diverse teams.
• O’Melveny is a repository of knowledge—about law, regulation, business trends and dynamics, and the sectors that drive the global economy. We use technology to ensure that every client benefits from that comprehensive knowledge, efficiently and cost-effectively.
• At O’Melveny, we commit to making “the client experience” as satisfying as the outcomes we help our clients achieve. That takes a team committed to the idea that no client should have to choose between legal excellence and extraordinary service.

Community The legal community, the business community, the global community. Our lawyers and staff believe that we all share an ongoing responsibility to contribute to the many communities that define our lives and our work.

• One way we fulfill our responsibility to our communities is by investing our time, expertise, and resources in efforts that reflect the firm’s deep commitment to professional, public, and community service.
• More than 70% of our lawyers participate in pro bono projects that help vulnerable or underserved members of our society—or that contribute to important social issues. The American Lawyer makes pro bono service a significant criterion in its calculation of “A-List” law firms. O’Melveny has been recognized as an A-List firm for 11 years running.
• O’Melveny believes education is central to progress and inclusion. Over the past 25 years, the firm has awarded more than US$10 million in scholarship assistance to hundreds of students around the world.
• When it comes to making public service part of a lawyer’s career, O’Melveny walks the walk. The firm’s storied history has been enriched by a veritable Mount Rushmore of public servants, including Warren Christopher, William Coleman, AB Culvahouse, Walter Dellinger, Michael Dreeben, Lisa Monaco, and Ron Klain.
• Each year, O’Melveny proudly joins forces with clients on community service and other social responsibility projects, including free legal clinics, mentorship programs, and fundraising drives.