At the completion of the training program, each student participates in a mock trial presided over by the senior members of the firm and persons hired to serve as jurors to hear the case and reach a verdict. The development of associates is directly related to the guidance and training they are given by more senior lawyers in the firm. New associates are assigned to a mentoring partner in a specific practice area. Mentoring partners monitor the professional progress of their associates. Some lawyers do change practice groups as they gain experience, their interests change, or the firm's practice develops into new areas.
Associates receive annual formal evaluations.
Evaluation criteria include technical performance, development of substantive knowledge, ability to work independently, involvement in firm programs and committees, and business development, among other areas. Our lawyers write, speak and teach on a variety of legal subjects, and several serve as adjunct law professors at local law schools. We utilize an internal peer review program where senior partners review other attorneys' work product to assess the appropriateness of strategy and service. National scope with local presence One of the firm's business strategies has been to establish additional offices in smaller communities throughout the country around a core of solid, local business and litigation lawyers and then to leverage the capabilities of those offices by making available the business, financial and litigation attorneys from the firm's larger offices. This strategy allows for consistent quality and cost-effective legal services without the loss of continuity that often occurs when two or more firms are handling a client's litigation.