Step by Step

In this interview, Mark Goldberg, Latham’s Director of Well-Being & Benefits, discusses the firm’s annual Spring Challenge and how Latham lawyers and business professionals have engaged in this friendly competition for years.

What is Latham’s Spring Challenge?

The Spring Challenge is an annual global event in which our offices compete against one another to see which can log the most well-being activity — which in turn generates meal donations for children in need. The Challenge involves many layers but at its core, colleagues track their steps through wearable devices. They can also manually log other forms of physical, mental, and social well-being activity, which is then converted into “steps” for purposes of the Challenge. Every 5,000 steps in a day earns a charitable meal donation, and offices vie to have the greatest number of meal donations per person. As an added twist in 2024, we grouped offices together into multi-office teams to encourage greater collaboration and cross-office connection.

What started in 2009 as a simple goal of inspiring colleagues to move more throughout their day has evolved into an annual, month-long challenge with thousands of Latham lawyers and business professionals participating each year. The Challenge is truly a global event, complete with firm-paid activity trackers, creative local office events, and more. While a little friendly competition always ensues, the Challenge is really about creating an environment in which we can encourage one another to focus on our physical, mental, and emotional well-being, while helping to do some good in the world through our charity meal donations. 

What are some ways you foster engagement and participation?

Over the years, our offices have come up with creative ideas to get their teams involved and excited. We have seen scavenger hunts, wheelbarrow races, plank and sit-up contests, "bubble football," ping pong, group meditations, sounds baths, bowling, dragon boat races, beach clean-ups, and all manners of hikes and exercise classes, to name a few.

What’s great about the Challenge is that, over the years, it has become such an inclusive event. Our platform provides a space for different kinds of participation and activities. While steps are tracked through a wearable device, the Challenge encourages other “non-step” activities like biking, yoga, weightlifting, horseback riding, gardening, swimming, or even meditation. Our Challenge platform converts it all into “steps,” and allows people to engage in their health in whatever way works best for them. In our most recent Challenge (our 15th!), we also added a social well-being component, encouraging colleagues to create new, meaningful connections across the firm and expand their Latham network. People were invited to opt into a matching program that paired random participants from different offices each week, giving them an excuse to connect. The program was incredibly well-received and was a great way for colleagues to meet new people around the firm.

In addition to bragging rights, what does the Spring Challenge champion win?

Trust me when I say it’s hard to overstate how popular those bragging rights are! In addition, the winning office takes possession of our coveted “Bronze Sneaker” trophy.

Tell us more about this Bronze Sneaker.

The original Bronze Sneaker was literally a running shoe from one of our Latham colleagues that was bronzed and made into a trophy. It gets passed from one winning office to the next, and stays with the winner for a full year until the next Challenge.

The first trophy was created long ago from an old pair of sneakers donated by one of our associates. But in honor of the competition’s 10th anniversary, we hosted a “Bronze My Sneaker” contest inviting colleagues to share how the Challenge made an impact on their life, with the winner having their sneaker bronzed for a new trophy and receiving a new (unbronzed!) pair of running shoes. A secretary from our Chicago office had a really inspiring story. She had assumed she was moving a fair amount each day, but when she began tracking her steps, she realized she wasn’t moving nearly as much as she’d thought. This prompted her to begin walking more, then running, and eventually completing multiple marathons. That’s what the Spring Challenge is all about — encouraging people to take charge of their health and well-being.

For our multi-office teams in 2024, we suddenly had multiple winners, so we needed to add a few more Bronze Sneakers to the mix. We turned to Singapore, our office with the highest number of historical wins (four times!) and obtained footwear from their top performers, adding to the rich history of the Challenge.

What does it take to pull off a global event of this scale?

We have an amazing team of over 100 Latham colleagues who serve as planning team members, regional coordinators, and local office team leaders. They help with everything including promotion, registration, distributing step-tracking devices, and organizing local events to engage their teams. It truly takes a village, and we appreciate the tremendous effort from these volunteers each year.

How does the Spring Challenge fit into Latham’s larger well-being strategy?

Years ago, the Spring Challenge was actually our first large-scale venture into the well-being space. But right from the start, we realized it was about much more than just tracking steps. It supported our firm culture and the collegiality of Latham that we all love, and fostered engagement and connection among our lawyers and business professionals across the globe. The Spring Challenge became an important catalyst for the growth of LiveWell Latham — our global well-being platform. Today we have a wide array of robust programming and resources to support our colleagues’ physical, mental, and emotional well-being — including our annual Spring Challenge!