The Sorcerer's Apprenticeship

A few innovative law firms are turning the first year or two of law practice into apprenticeships. These apprenticeships are designed to accelerate recent law school graduates' transition into legal practice. Law firms are being forced into this change because clients will no longer pay high hourly fees for new lawyers who do not know the fundamentals of practice and add no appreciable value to the team. These apprenticeship models supplement expanded formal training programs with extensive experiential learning and one-on-one guidance from partners. While some of the associates' work is billed to clients at a reduced hourly rate, associates have little pressure or expectation to produce billable work. Apprenticeships for new lawyers sound promising and the firms that are implementing them should be commended. However, under the current system of legal education and private practice, this model may not be realistic for most law firms.

Apprenticeship and the Practice of Law

Apprenticeship is nothing new to law; it is how lawyers were trained for decades. Until the surge in law firm growth, expansion and billable hour expectations in the 1980's, most new lawyers learned by watching and working closely with partners, shadowing them, sitting in on client meetings and literally carrying their bags to court. Law firms are the most logical places for law school graduates to make the transition to expert practitioners. After all, novices learn to practice law by doing real legal work, ideally under the supervision and guidance of more experienced lawyers. But full scale apprenticeship programs are not feasible for most law firms today. Four of the reasons they have limited utility are the need for expansive hands-on learning experiences, heightened expectations for partners, impact on recruitment, and economics.

Hands-on Learning

Many firms do a lot of classroom and web-based training now, but the heart of an apprenticeship is experiential learning. Much of the experiential learning in the new law firm programs is expected to come from shadowing partners and client teams, pro bono and small case work, and on-site client placements.

Pro Bono

Apprenticeships are good news for pro bono clients because they incorporate pro bono work as a major element of associates' learning experience. In Howrey's program, for example, associates meet for weekly facilitated peer group learning sessions where they share and debrief their pro bono and small case work experiences. Apprenticeships are also good news for paying clients because associates do some client work at reduced fees or none at all.

Direct Client Experience

Some apprenticeship programs place associates in client facilities for direct, hands-on client experience. Frost Brown Todd's program includes stints on-site with firm clients during the first year, and Howrey will provide three-month secondments at the end of associates' second year. These placements provide excellent opportunities for associates to learn about clients' business and strengthen client relationships with the firm.

Firms with current apprenticeship programs are devoting considerable resources to finding experiential learning opportunities for associates. Frost Brown Todd is assigning seasoned lawyers to serve as “internal knowledge coaches” for first-years. In addition to advising the associates, these partners are tasked with finding practical experiences for them. Most firms will find it challenging to provide sufficient hands-on learning experiences for all new associates for a full year or more.

Partner Expectations

Apprenticeship programs reduce demands and expectations for associates, but what about partners? They hold the key to meaningful apprenticeships. They are ones who must invest time and effort to carefully supervise associates, help them make sense of their experience and turn it into learning. But partners have so much pressures on them today to generate revenues that it will be hard to get them to spend the extra time required for supervision and teaching.

Firms will have to find incentives that will make partners willing to add new associate training responsibilities to their already overworked lives. A year-long or two-year apprenticeship will necessarily demand more teaching from partners than is expected of them now. Most partners do little on-the-job training, especially for first-year associates. They rarely supervise associates or give them feedback with a developmental purpose in mind, and mentoring by partners, which is the most useful source of developmental learning, is hit and miss in most firms. Firms that adopt an apprenticeship model will need to explain to partners what they have to do differently, teach them how to teach their associates, and hold them accountable for doing it.

Recruitment

The impact of apprenticeship programs on recruitment is unclear because the current programs are being implemented at a time when jobs are scarce and law graduates have few job choices. In the long term, whether apprenticeships will
be attractive to first-years is unknown, especially if they pay significantly lower than market salaries. Moreover, it is questionable whether new law graduates will be interested in another year of training after three years of law school. Most will be impatient to start practice, and for new lawyers who have more traditional law firm job options, apprenticeships will be a hard sell.

Apprenticeship Economics

In apprenticeships, law firms subsidize a training year or more for new associates with little revenue generated by associates to offset the expense. In most apprenticeship programs, associates' billing expectations are reduced and while salaries are usually dropped below market rates, they remain high.

The economics of an apprenticeship model are staggering. At Howrey, first-years' salaries have been sharply reduced from $160,000 to $100,000, with an additional $25,000 signing bonus. These associates will be expected to bill only 700 hours. During the second year, the billable hour expectation goes up to 1000 and salary rises to $125,000 with an additional $25,000 bonus for associates who finish the program. Salaries jump to market rates after the second year. Howrey estimates that the program will cost between $3 million and $4 million, including lost billable hours and training costs. The firm expects to save close to $1.7 million through salary reductions. But even with those savings, this is a loss of $1.3 – $2.3 million. While large firms may be able and willing to absorb the cost of this kind of program, most firms will not or cannot afford to do it.

Conclusion

Moving to an apprenticeship model holds great promise in helping young lawyers transition into practice and in helping firms show that their young associates can make valuable contributions to client service. There are many ways apprenticeships could be implemented in law firms, but individual firms are not likely to do it because the challenges and expenses of these programs are too great. A new model is needed for lawyer education, training and development that would have broader applicability. Law schools, law firms, bar associations and CLE providers are all exploring new ways to educate and prepare new lawyers. The current apprenticeship models will provide tangible experience and outcomes these entities can call on as they search for solutions.

Ida Abbott, President of Ida Abbott Consulting LLC, helps employers manage legal talent and develop effective leaders. She writes about these issues in Management Solutions, available on her Web site at http://idaabbott.com/newsletter.html. She can be reached at 510-339-6883 or [email protected].

A few innovative law firms are turning the first year or two of law practice into apprenticeships. These apprenticeships are designed to accelerate recent law school graduates' transition into legal practice. Law firms are being forced into this change because clients will no longer pay high hourly fees for new lawyers who do not know the fundamentals of practice and add no appreciable value to the team. These apprenticeship models supplement expanded formal training programs with extensive experiential learning and one-on-one guidance from partners. While some of the associates' work is billed to clients at a reduced hourly rate, associates have little pressure or expectation to produce billable work. Apprenticeships for new lawyers sound promising and the firms that are implementing them should be commended. However, under the current system of legal education and private practice, this model may not be realistic for most law firms.

Apprenticeship and the Practice of Law

Apprenticeship is nothing new to law; it is how lawyers were trained for decades. Until the surge in law firm growth, expansion and billable hour expectations in the 1980's, most new lawyers learned by watching and working closely with partners, shadowing them, sitting in on client meetings and literally carrying their bags to court. Law firms are the most logical places for law school graduates to make the transition to expert practitioners. After all, novices learn to practice law by doing real legal work, ideally under the supervision and guidance of more experienced lawyers. But full scale apprenticeship programs are not feasible for most law firms today. Four of the reasons they have limited utility are the need for expansive hands-on learning experiences, heightened expectations for partners, impact on recruitment, and economics.

Hands-on Learning

Many firms do a lot of classroom and web-based training now, but the heart of an apprenticeship is experiential learning. Much of the experiential learning in the new law firm programs is expected to come from shadowing partners and client teams, pro bono and small case work, and on-site client placements.

Pro Bono

Apprenticeships are good news for pro bono clients because they incorporate pro bono work as a major element of associates' learning experience. In Howrey's program, for example, associates meet for weekly facilitated peer group learning sessions where they share and debrief their pro bono and small case work experiences. Apprenticeships are also good news for paying clients because associates do some client work at reduced fees or none at all.

Direct Client Experience

Some apprenticeship programs place associates in client facilities for direct, hands-on client experience. Frost Brown Todd's program includes stints on-site with firm clients during the first year, and Howrey will provide three-month secondments at the end of associates' second year. These placements provide excellent opportunities for associates to learn about clients' business and strengthen client relationships with the firm.

Firms with current apprenticeship programs are devoting considerable resources to finding experiential learning opportunities for associates. Frost Brown Todd is assigning seasoned lawyers to serve as “internal knowledge coaches” for first-years. In addition to advising the associates, these partners are tasked with finding practical experiences for them. Most firms will find it challenging to provide sufficient hands-on learning experiences for all new associates for a full year or more.

Partner Expectations

Apprenticeship programs reduce demands and expectations for associates, but what about partners? They hold the key to meaningful apprenticeships. They are ones who must invest time and effort to carefully supervise associates, help them make sense of their experience and turn it into learning. But partners have so much pressures on them today to generate revenues that it will be hard to get them to spend the extra time required for supervision and teaching.

Firms will have to find incentives that will make partners willing to add new associate training responsibilities to their already overworked lives. A year-long or two-year apprenticeship will necessarily demand more teaching from partners than is expected of them now. Most partners do little on-the-job training, especially for first-year associates. They rarely supervise associates or give them feedback with a developmental purpose in mind, and mentoring by partners, which is the most useful source of developmental learning, is hit and miss in most firms. Firms that adopt an apprenticeship model will need to explain to partners what they have to do differently, teach them how to teach their associates, and hold them accountable for doing it.

Recruitment

The impact of apprenticeship programs on recruitment is unclear because the current programs are being implemented at a time when jobs are scarce and law graduates have few job choices. In the long term, whether apprenticeships will
be attractive to first-years is unknown, especially if they pay significantly lower than market salaries. Moreover, it is questionable whether new law graduates will be interested in another year of training after three years of law school. Most will be impatient to start practice, and for new lawyers who have more traditional law firm job options, apprenticeships will be a hard sell.

Apprenticeship Economics

In apprenticeships, law firms subsidize a training year or more for new associates with little revenue generated by associates to offset the expense. In most apprenticeship programs, associates' billing expectations are reduced and while salaries are usually dropped below market rates, they remain high.

The economics of an apprenticeship model are staggering. At Howrey, first-years' salaries have been sharply reduced from $160,000 to $100,000, with an additional $25,000 signing bonus. These associates will be expected to bill only 700 hours. During the second year, the billable hour expectation goes up to 1000 and salary rises to $125,000 with an additional $25,000 bonus for associates who finish the program. Salaries jump to market rates after the second year. Howrey estimates that the program will cost between $3 million and $4 million, including lost billable hours and training costs. The firm expects to save close to $1.7 million through salary reductions. But even with those savings, this is a loss of $1.3 – $2.3 million. While large firms may be able and willing to absorb the cost of this kind of program, most firms will not or cannot afford to do it.

Conclusion

Moving to an apprenticeship model holds great promise in helping young lawyers transition into practice and in helping firms show that their young associates can make valuable contributions to client service. There are many ways apprenticeships could be implemented in law firms, but individual firms are not likely to do it because the challenges and expenses of these programs are too great. A new model is needed for lawyer education, training and development that would have broader applicability. Law schools, law firms, bar associations and CLE providers are all exploring new ways to educate and prepare new lawyers. The current apprenticeship models will provide tangible experience and outcomes these entities can call on as they search for solutions.

Ida Abbott, President of Ida Abbott Consulting LLC, helps employers manage legal talent and develop effective leaders. She writes about these issues in Management Solutions, available on her Web site at http://idaabbott.com/newsletter.html. She can be reached at 510-339-6883 or [email protected].