Maria Haymandou’s latest blog post
The two men behind Susman Godfrey.
In a recent article, Stephen Susman wrote about how to properly train junior lawyers. Stephen Susman is an experienced lawyer, and a founding partner of law firm Susman Godfrey. Susman has heard about a steep decline in enrollment at law schools, and a disturbingly high number of young attorneys that are leaving law. Being a law firm associate is considered to be one of the “unhappiest jobs” in the United States. While some law firms have established apprenticeship programs in which new associates are offered reduced salaries in exchange for less responsibility and more on-the-job training, Susman think that this is a poor choice; giving associates more responsibility will allow firms to recruit better candidates and help younger lawyers learn more skills on the job. He wrote a series of five tips that he believes are good ways to help lawyers effectively train new associates.
The best new associates don’t want to spend their time doing legal research. Rather, they would prefer to try out working in the courtroom. And once these young lawyers do get to court, you should encourage them to get up and say something, as opposed to just sitting there the whole time.
It’s a good idea to afford new associates greater independence, as opposed to having them shadow more experienced attorneys. Staffing cases leanly and efficiently allows greater opportunities for new attorneys to prove their worth.
A great policy for a law firm is the “one lawyer, one vote” policy, which gives the firm’s newest associate an equal voice (and vote) with even the most senior partner. Younger lawyers will be more inclined to work harder if they feel respected and appreciated.
At a lot of law firms, attorneys are required to make partner before they can gain any real exposure to the operations of a law firm. At Susman Godfrey, on the other hand, there is a policy of financial transparency, which helps new associates gain valuable insight into the finer points of running a law firm.
Being a trial attorney can be fun. If you can convey your enthusiasm for law to your other associates, then they’ll be able to see the fun side of law.
Maria Haymandou 