Drinker Biddle & Reath, a Philadelphia firm, trains its new associates to be lawyers. Here, Matthew McDonald, a partner, passes out instructions.
By DAVID SEGAL
Published: November 19, 2011
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So, for decades, clients have essentially underwritten the training of new lawyers, paying as much as $300 an hour for the time of associates learning on the job. But the downturn in the economy, and long-running efforts to rethink legal fees, have prompted more and more of those clients to send a simple message to law firms: Teach new hires on your own dime.
“The fundamental issue is that law schools are producing people who are not capable of being counselors,” says Jeffrey W. Carr, the general counsel of FMC Technologies, a Houston company that makes oil drilling equipment. “They are lawyers in the sense that they have law degrees, but they aren’t ready to be a provider of services.”
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Read entire article recommended by Gregory Kottmeier, Esq.
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