Training days

The most commonly cited cost of replacing an associate is around $300,000, thanks to the work of Catalyst Canada’s study of attrition in law firms. It’s hardly surprising, then, that law firms want to take all available steps to protect the investments they’ve made in their new lawyers. High on that list of steps are sophisticated, multi-faceted training programs.

Training associates isn’t just a way to keep them from jumping ship, however. While associates do clamour for more skills training and increasingly consider it a sine qua non to remain with a firm, the benefits hardly flow only one way. Law firms that invest the time and resources to train their new lawyers soon learn the truth that bread cast upon the waters can come back a hundredfold.

Here’s a quick look at the types of associate training that have flourished among far-sighted law firms across North America:

1. Conflicts. Few new lawyers are as well-versed in practical legal ethics as they need to be, so training them in the firm’s conflict-checking system is critical, from both a risk-management and a professional discipline point of view. Associates often don’t recognize conflict situations that come without the standard red flags — or indeed, with no flags at all. Broader ethics issues include client confidentiality and privilege.

2. Professionalism. Over the course of their careers, lawyers come to learn that professionalism is more art than science, more state of mind than textbook lessons. Associates need guidance in knowing how to treat opposing counsel, address judges, deal with court staff, work with colleagues, and even how to dress appropriately. Both formal mentoring programs and informal discussion groups can pass on this kind of wisdom.

3. Business Development. It’s not a matter of giving associates the latest best-seller on marketing and client relations. Every firm has its own business development strategy and culture, and associates need to learn right away how the firm develops clients and shares files, where the opportunities and dangers can arise, and what’s expected of them at various stages of their careers. Client relations is a whole training topic to itself

4. Financial Reality. Often overlooked by many firms is associates’ unfamiliarity with how the law firm actually makes money. Firms that treat financial matters as closely guarded secrets do themselves no favours: the more associates know about the connection between their billables and their salary (not to mention the firm’s profitability), how the partnership operates, how salaries are determined, and how firms incur costs, the better.

— Gideon Clarke

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In this document, any reference to "jurist" or "lawyer" includes, where appropriate, "Québec notary".