A Chemical Company With a Good Sense of Humor
I don't know anything about Lyondell Chemical Co. other than what I read in this brief article, so don't take this as an endorsement of them as a whole. But I do wholeheartedly endorse this particular practice:
The recent meeting that Lyondell Chemical Co. held for its outside litigators was, for the most part, a staid and conventional affair. The Houston-based firm assembled 90 lawyers at the local Four Seasons Hotel to review recent cases and discuss upcoming issues. But the daylong session also featured something that you won't see at any other corporate conference: knighting ceremonies. ...
Each first-time honoree was given a four-foot-long sword -- unsharpened, but still looking like it could inflict serious damage. Four repeat winners received a bronze statue of a knight on horseback. And all were celebrated by Speelman with mock-heroic proclamations describing their deeds.
During the meeting's final ceremony, for example, Speelman called up Michael Nilan and Scott Smith of Minneapolis-based Halleland Lewis Nilan & Johnson. The two had "sojourned across the land," Speelman proclaimed, "guarding against marauding hordes." But then, "Lo! A summons was issued from the faraway country of Wisconsin, where the Enterprise was attacked yet again by its lead paint adversaries." (Lyondell was sued by a Wisconsin resident who claimed injuries from paint...)
Recognition like this will motivate lawyers in a way that hourly fees can't; money can't buy morale.