For years, that's been the familiar refrain of lawyers who hire new law grads to offset the office workload - only to realize that their aspiring Perry Masons can't draft a simple motion, never mind help build the practice. But that may soon change.
Many lawyers say it's working.
Dorner says grads from that school, and others like it, are much better prepared to handle the workaday demands of a small-firm practice. That makes them more valuable hires - and more formidable competitors. But some attorneys aren't worried at all. Early returns suggest they might be. Shell Bleiweiss, a small-firm environmental lawyer, says he recruits his help from Kent College of Law at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago.