Monday, April 20, 2009

No Training on My Dime (But How Will They Get Experience?)

According to an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, clients at some large law firms are requesting that first-year associates not work on cases assigned to the firm.

"Among the sea changes is a reluctance by a number of clients, or even an outright ban, as far having first-year associates work on their matters," says an ABA Journal online article citing to the Philadelphia Inquirer piece and to its original interview with Morgan Lewis Chair Francis Milone:

"'It's a trend," he tells the newspaper. "We literally have some clients who are telling us they do not want us to put brand-new associates on their matters.'

The problem is, at a starting salary of $160,000 a head for the firm's first-years, such client reluctance is making the new associates less useful to Morgan Lewis, he points out. "It's going to be harder to find things for new lawyers to do."

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