Junior associates do not only do due diligence.
Not exact matches
«Everyone has to
do some level of diligence as a
junior associate, but by rule the firm only really takes on interesting matters and complicated work.
Another area that has been flagged by a number of
junior lawyers as a concern, which was not covered in the survey, is the lack of transparency about why some
associates on the partnership track
do not make it at the end.
«We invest a lot in education and programs and
do a lot of intensive training from new
associates to
junior partners,» he said.
LegalMation
does not create attorney work product, but creates first / preliminary drafts similar to that created by a
junior associate or paralegal.
Junior Work Done at Senior Billing Rates In most firms, senior attorneys are billed out at higher hourly rates than junior attorneys, and clients want to see tasks being performed in the most efficient manner possible for them: if a $ 150 / hour associate can draft a client update in the same time and at roughly the same skill level as a $ 450 / hour partner, then the client will not want to pay three times the amount for the same r
Junior Work
Done at Senior Billing Rates In most firms, senior attorneys are billed out at higher hourly rates than
junior attorneys, and clients want to see tasks being performed in the most efficient manner possible for them: if a $ 150 / hour associate can draft a client update in the same time and at roughly the same skill level as a $ 450 / hour partner, then the client will not want to pay three times the amount for the same r
junior attorneys, and clients want to see tasks being performed in the most efficient manner possible for them: if a $ 150 / hour
associate can draft a client update in the same time and at roughly the same skill level as a $ 450 / hour partner, then the client will not want to pay three times the amount for the same result.
I've heard many lawyers say their firms try to be more flexible or say they will be more flexible but the reality of the
junior associate, say,
does not generally reflect that.
The platform would assign a flag, for example, when it identifies a more - senior lawyer
doing work typically
done by
junior lawyers, or when it finds partners unnecessarily billing to review
associates» work.
I began my legal career like many lawyers
do, first as a trainee, then a
junior, an
associate and so on; but this is a risky and competitive market, and in order to attract clientele a supportive system is crucial.
In the legal field, we see tasks that used to fall to
junior associates working in those proverbial law firm basements —
doing document review, for example — now being
done more efficiently and cost - effectively through outsourcing, and not just from offshore locations like India and the Philippines, but onshore in the US and UK, or as a hybrid onshore / offshore model, or even onsite.
One litigator outlined: «My first year and a half was spent typically
doing junior associate tasks like case management, discovery related work and heavy research but in the last half a year I've taken on a substantial amount of drafting, taken control of briefs and second chaired depositions.»
One
associate told us about «a relationship with
Junior Achievement which
does outreach to middle schools
doing programs on business and finance.»
With that said, not all firms have recovered equally, and many
associates from a certain group of firms have indicated that they
do not have much work, and a good deal of the work that they
do get should be handled by a more
junior associate or even a non-attorney.
For the firm advancing its paralegals some of this higher value work is more like the type of work the
junior associates used to
do.
Hwang said the legal department at Verizon refuses to pay for work
done by first years,
junior, or mid-level
associates.
18 years ago it finally dawned on me that, for example, 3 highly experienced partners will always
do a much higher quality job than 20
associates, 4
junior partners, chief trial lawyer, etc WHY?
On the flip side, though, I don't see anything wrong with large firms considering
juniors for partnership — and in fact, I'd guess that if there were a first - year
associate out there generating gazillions in revenue, a firm would find a way to promote.
Partly this is divided by area of practice: I have observed few solicitors
doing much legal research using commentary, though
junior associates and articling students
do more.
Whether you are a law student, articling student or a
junior associate, it is easy to be trapped in the mindset that you don't measure up.
Junior associates are expected to bill at least 60 hours, while «the cap is at 200 hours — but I know people who
do more than that.»
Salazar doesn't give an exact figure, but will say that using ROSS on an annual basis costs far less than employing a
junior associate.
CA: What
do you think
junior associates should really take advantage of during their first few years at Skadden?
The region has a lot to offer
junior associates, but don't think you can just waltz in unannounced; our BigLaw sources suggested applicants «have a good explanation for being in the area.
There are stories in every firm of partners or senior
associates who ask for some vague thing, get back work product that they don't like and then just assume that the
junior lawyer is an idiot and vow never to work with them again.
Leftovers include, for example, the
junior associates who are serving apprenticeships at client expense, partners without client portfolios, senior
associates who have fallen off the partnership track, temporaries, paralegals with nothing else to
do, and even summer clerks.
When you're
doing a major deal, the last thing you want is a
junior associate leading the charge.
Lawyers should lay out exactly how they plan to bill a client:
Does a meeting with the senior counsel on the case cost X, but with the
junior associate cost half that?
We invest a lot in education and programs and
do a lot of intensive training from new
associates to
junior partners.
And, if you are very good at what you are
doing, you threaten the senior
associates and
junior partners.
For decades, firms used essentially the same model: charging increasingly higher rates for relatively routine work
done by
junior associates, whose entry - level salaries in major markets have now been bid up to $ 160,000 (plus bonus, of course), a sum reported by the big law schools.
Factor in the appearance of LPOs like Exigent and CounselQuest which can
do traditional
junior associate work and one begins to wonder how large Canadian law firms will be able to afford
junior associates at all — especially if other providers can
do the same work better, faster and cheaper.
Most law firms, I think it's fair to say, don't even train their
associates and
junior partners especially well, let alone newly graduated quasi-lawyers.
The real question is how
does BigLaw get away with charging such high rates for
junior associates that are just reading and coding emails from home?
First come the researchers who identify candidates, then come
junior associates who qualify the candidates; and after that come the consultants and partners who
do more in - depth interviews, assessments, and manage the engagement through its successful completion.
Kerry McCallum,
Associate Professor of Communication and Media Studies at the University of Canberra, and Lisa Waller, a former print journalist now
doing a PhD at the University of Canberra, say that media logic — defined as «involving a range of skills and tools to monitor, pre-empt and react to news media representation of their policy field» — has permeated the practices of Indigenous affairs policy professionals at every level, from minister to
junior bureaucrat.