Redwood Analytics

I'm sure that many of our readers may disagree with my colleague Brian's statement yesterday that salary is not the only driving factor impacting a young lawyer's decision to join a law firm.  I'm not a lawyer, and I didn't go to law school, nor did I carry a huge amount of debt upon my graduation from college, but I was fortunate enough to graduate with an Economics degree and a minor in Finance when the job market was considerably more robust than it is today.  I entertained no fewer than six job offers out of college, from Wall Street Investment banks to commercial banks.  And it's the absolute truth when I tell you that I took the job with one of the lowest salaries because they offered a perk that no other company came close to matching - a paid training program.

My new employer, recognizing the long-term value of a well educated (and fully licensed) employee, paid me a full salary to learn the ropes, shadow other more senior employees in various functions, and prepare to pass the Series 7 and 63 securities licensing exams.  A moderate pay increase upon successful completion of the exams was also promised and delivered.

While many of my friends from my finance classes were stuck cold calling during the day and taking night classes to prep for the licensing exams, or stuck in unpaid internships, I was lucky enough to have found a company that saw the value in training its employees.

Howrey is a law firm that also sees the value in training employees.  In scaling back the pay for new associates from $160k to $100k (with a $25k incentive to cover law school costs) they also recently introduced an apprenticeship program for new associates.  The apprenticeship program at this litigation heavy firm will give new associates courtroom exposure through pro-bono work and allow for other professional development, and in the second year, give associates a chance to be embedded at a client site to truly learn about client's legal needs, and bill at a reduced rate. 

This sounds like a win-win.  Instead of being deferred for a year, new associates are getting experience that they would not have had toiling away at document review.  And the firm is making the best of the reality of not enough work to go around, but at the same time positioning themselves with a pipeline of skilled young attorneys for when business picks up.  And you could even call it a win-win-win when you factor in clients. 

For clients like Michelle Bloch of Sun Microsystems who don't want to pay $300 an hour for work that represents a new associate's training time this has been a long time coming.  And when clients are happy they send more work to the firm that made them happy. 

Even though the firm is not necessarily saving money - despite the salary cuts, the program is expected to cost $3 - $4 million to implement, including lost billable hours and training costs - the long term impacts on profitability from achieving a balance on leverage and client satisfaction should pay off for Howrey.