Kirkland & Ellis
Team Building Adventure
Back Bay Boston, MA
SCROLL DOWN TO START YOUR ADVENTURE
Here Are The Rules
Complete as many challenges as you can within the given time frame. Challenges can be completed in any order.
Please note any challenges that are labeled “required” or have a designated time your team needs to arrive, and plan accordingly.
Team members need to stay together throughout the adventure, however, if you are all at the same location and searching for something you can spread out until it is found.
Some challenges may require a few basic supplies to complete them. Figuring out how to obtain these supplies somewhere in the area is part of the experience.
After completing each challenge click the “Connection Question”. Have at least one team member answer the question while you’re at the challenge location, or as you travel together to your next location. These answers don’t need to be submitted, they are simply meant to spark meaningful conversations within your own team. The more team members that talk about their answer, the more connected you’ll become. If you choose to just have one person answer per question create a rotation of who answers next so that everyone is sharing equally.
CHALLENGES
#1: Being part of Kirkland means you are committed to building a better and more resilient future for the global community. Just recently that has meant millions of dollars pledged towards supporting organizations focused on ending racism, helping Afghan and Ukrainian refugees, and working towards offsetting the Firm’s carbon footprint. To reflect upon the impact you might have on this world as part of the Kirkland team, get your group to The Mapparium (200 Massachusetts Ave) for a 3:40pm tour. Please arrive by 3:30pm, enter through the doors with the banners, and make your way to the Welcome Hall to check-in. Spend a few moments as a team within this unique structure and take a picture with everyone pointing to a place you’d like to visit. If photos inside the globe are restricted simply take a fun team photo in the lobby. This challenge is required.
Connection Question For Challenge #1
#2: Create a “connection chain” using every member of your team. Click HERE to see an example of how to create one, and then take a video once everyone is lined up and explain how you are connected to the person next to you. Work hard to discover creative and meaningful connections with one another, not just something generic such as “we each breath air”.
Connection Question For Challenge #2
#3: Get your team to the memorial shown HERE. Once there, have everyone spread out and record your own video message to a woman in your life that has been an important part of your law journey. Maybe this is a woman family member or relative who inspired you to pursue law, an educator that pushed you, or a mentor that guided you when you felt lost. Record the video on your own device and send it to them either during the event or sometime shortly after the finish. To verify you all completed the challenge have someone take a video of the group while everyone is spread out and recording their messages, or submit a powerful team photo flexing your muscles while standing next to any of the bad ass figures that are part of the memorial.
Connection Question For Challenge #3
#4: Working in law often requires a rigorous work schedule. Therefore, remaining healthy can be critical to your success. Research shows that consuming raw garlic can boost your immune system. So take a video of all your team members each chewing a separate raw clove of garlic for at least 15 full seconds. Team members should be actively chewing the clove and not just holding it in their mouths. Disclaimer, although healthy this will likely not be pleasant, which is exactly the point. Because a team that suffers together, grows together.
Connection Question For Challenge #4
#5: Diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives permeate all facets of Kirkland, and the Firm believes in fostering an environment of belonging where everyone feels valued. This can only be achieved by listening to the people you provide services for and understanding the stories that make them who they are. Take a video of your team and any stranger that has a tattoo while they explain what that tattoo means to them or why they got it. The tattoo must be visible at some point during the video.
Connection Question For Challenge #5
#6: Boston’s fire box system was the first one of it’s kind installed anywhere in the world. Pulling the alarm on one of these boxes around the city will not only mean help will be on site within 3 minutes, but the system will work even when cell towers and the electrical grid are down because it uses Morse Code to send a signal. To honor the brave firefighters that protect this city, take a video of your team completing "Stop, Drop, and Roll" while any of these historic fire boxes are visible in the background, or you are standing in front of an actual fire station. Be sure to yell each step of the fire safety technique as you all do it together.
Connection Question For Challenge #6
#7: Kirkland is focused on the mental, emotional and physical wellbeing of it’s attorneys and staff. In fact, the Kirkland Wellbeing Program is one of the industry’s most comprehensive in educating on mental health topics and providing pathways to support. The Firm has also increased it’s focus on environmental stewardship and pursues initiatives to operate more sustainably. To honor both of these important commitments, anywhere around the area find a bin, container, or receptacle of some sort that has the triangular recycling symbol on it. Once you’ve found one, take a picture of your entire team all having a Zen moment completing any variation of the "Tree Pose" while the canister with the recycling symbol on it is clearly visible in the background. To view a picture of someone properly performing a variation of the Tree Pose click HERE.
Connection Question For Challenge #7
#8: Anywhere around the area, find an establishment that has an animal in it's name and take a fun team picture with everyone posing or acting like that specific animal while the establishment’s signage is clearly visible in the background. Please note you’re looking for a place with the animal in it’s actual name such as "The Friendly Giraffe" and not a place that lists an animal as something that is served there such as "Hattie B's Hot Chicken".
Connection Question For Challenge #8
#9: Born right here in Massachusetts, Clara Barton was one of the first women to work for the federal government and founded the American Red Cross. To honor her efforts on the battlefield as a nurse and the legacy she created with this impactful organization, find any Red Cross emblem around the area. Once you’ve found one, designate one of your teammates as an “injured soldier”. Then take a picture demonstrating the “correct way to carry an injured soldier”, as referenced in the picture found HERE by soldiers from the 1800’s. If you have a lot of people on your team you can divide up and carry multiple “victims” if you want. Or if you have a small team you can recruit strangers to help out if needed. Make sure the Red Cross emblem is visible somewhere in your picture and then gently lower your victim back down after you’re finished, just like Clara would have done.
Connection Question For Challenge #9
#10: Get your team to any hardware store around the area. Once there, grab a measuring tape and start measuring employees and shoppers heights (after asking their permission of course) until you find someone that is between 5’4” and 5’8” tall. Then take a fun team picture with your perfectly sized friend and the measuring tape stretched vertically next to them so their height can be verified. If HQ can’t verify the height from a distance you might be asked to take a closer picture of them or film a video actually measuring them.
Connection Question For Challenge #10
#11: Get to any clothing or apparel store and find two different items with enough in stock that every team member can be wearing the same two items in their own sizes. Then take a fun team picture with everyone wearing those items. For example it may be a wacky shirt, and a pair of shorts. Or maybe some cozy slippers and a large sun hat. As long as everyone is wearing the same exact two items but in their own sizes.
Connection Question For Challenge #11
#12: Today marks the 70th anniversary of the armistice signed to end the Korean War and July 27th has been declared National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day. Anywhere around the area find an active military person or a veteran of any era. Then take a video of them watching your entire team doing 10 push-ups, sit-ups or jumping jacks at their feet to honor their strength and courage. After you’ve finished recording, spend a few minutes learning more about their time in the service before you depart, as a small gesture of appreciation.