professional development

corporate

mentoring

Junior Associate Floor Advisor Program: This program provides first- and second- year associates in the New York office with easy access to “Associate Advisors” who are located nearby and who have volunteered to help them become familiar with life at the Firm. Associate Advisors are available to respond to “nuts and bolts” questions, including office procedures and practice-related issues, and to help new associates get to know other lawyers at S&C.

Mid-Level Associate Mentoring Program: Each 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th year GP associate in the U.S. offices is assigned two GP partner mentors from the mentee’s practice subgroup(s). Each mentor works with the mentee on at least one substantive matter per year and provides the mentee with real-time feedback on the mentee’s performance and lawyering skills.

Mentors also work with the sub-group assigning partners to help make sure the mentee has the opportunity to achieve the development “milestones” for each of the mentee’s sub-groups. At least one of the mentors attends the mentee’s annual performance review and assists the mentee in developing a “next steps” plan that identifies two or three developmental goals for the mentee to pursue over the coming year.

At the end of the 5^th year, both mentors and the mentee meet to develop a longer-term “professional development plan”, which focuses on milestones and lawyering skills, as needed, but also addresses the mentee’s longer-term career goals.  After the 5^th year the program ends but in many instances the mentoring relationship continues naturally on its own.

work assignment

Unlike many other firms that adhere to strict practice group rotations, there is tremendous flexibility in the assigning system at S&C. During their first 18 months, associates receive assignments from five core practice areas: Corporate and Finance, M&A, Financial Institutions, Commercial Real Estate and Executive Compensation and Benefits.  The assignments are handled by the Associate Development Partners for the class of associates. The Associate Development Partners seek to ensure that the lawyers in their group are exposed to a variety of different practice areas, transaction types and senior lawyers, and to achieve a reasonable distribution of work among lawyers in the group.  After the first 18 months, lawyers select one or two of the practice sub-groups.  Each sub-group has its own assigning partner.  

Offices Other than New York/D.C.: Incoming associates outside of NY and DC are assigned to work on the corporate or transactional matters handled by their office. They participate in the first- and second-year training programs offered by the New York office via videoconference.  Each office also offers monthly training sessions to its lawyers.

training

Our associates are given as much responsibility at as early a stage as they are able to handle. They undertake substantive assignments from the very beginning. All associates receive formal performance reviews from a partner annually or semi-annually, depending upon seniority level.

Incoming General Practice associates participate in a series of orientation lectures and workshops. Last fall’s General Practice specific programs were: Overview of a Securities Transaction; Due Diligence Review; Closing Basics; and Securities Laws Survival Tips: What Every First Year Associate Needs to Know About the 1933 and 1934 Acts.

After orientation, GP associates start on a 2 year training program of lunchtime sessions. Like the orientation sessions, the first-year programs consist of lectures and workshops that provide junior associates with basic information and skills. The first-year sessions include: Introduction to S&C Opinion Practice (3 part program: 2 lectures, 1 workshop); Building Blocks of a Contract (2 part program: 1 lecture, 1 workshop); Closing Documents: An In-Depth Look; Advanced Legal Writing and Editing (all day workshop); and Understanding Financial Statements (2 half-day workshops).

Second-year sessions provide more in-depth training. These sessions include: Bank Regulatory Basics; Comfort Letters; Exempt Offerings; Bankruptcy and Reorganization; Basic Tax Issues in Transactions; and 1940 Act: How to Structure Transactions to Avoid ‘40 Act Regulations.

Training continues throughout lawyers’ careers, with training programs on a variety of topics being offered by each of the sub-groups throughout the year at monthly meetings and luncheons.

litigation

training and mentoring

Incoming associates participate in a 10-day Introduction to Practice program for new associates. Including the sessions applicable to all new associates, sessions attended by new litigation associates include: Fundamentals of Discovery; How to Apply Privilege When Producing Documents: A Guide for New Associates; Introduction to Document Review and Production; and Witness Interviews and Preparation.

Incoming associates also participate in a lunch-time litigation program which introduces them to the breadth of the work handled by the group (IP, Securities Litigation, Labor & Employment, etc).  In addition, full day sessions taught by outside experts are offered on general legal writing, brief writing and accounting issues.  The writing sessions include in-house training seminars entitled “Advanced Legal Writing and Editing” and “The Winning Brief” taught by outside expert Bryan Garner.

All litigation associates also participate in a 2½ day deposition program at the start of their third year, and, in their fifth year, a 5-day trial skills program, both of which are provided by S&C Partners in conjunction with instructors from the National Institute of Trial Advocacy. The fifth year trial skills program culminates in an all-day mock trial in which S&C Partners play the role of judges, professional actors are used as witnesses and S&C employees and summer associates (depending on the timing of the program - incoming summers) serve as members of the jury.

An assigning partner oversees the assignment of associates to specific matters.

estates & personal

training and mentoring

An assigning partner oversees the assignment of associates to specific matters.  Incoming associates participate in a series of training sessions on estate administration and the drafting of wills and trusts.

Sessions attended by new Estates & Personal associates include:

• Estate Planning
• How to Structure a Closing
• Securities Transactions Overview
• Personal Real Estate Transactions

tax

training and mentoring

An assigning partner oversees the assignment of associates to specific matters.  Incoming associates participate in a training program consisting of substantive legal sessions, accounting sessions and legal writing. 

Sessions attended by new Tax associates include:

• Basic M&A
• Domestic Debt & Eurobond Offerings
• Foreign Equity Offerings
• Securities Transaction Overview