Legal News

Associate Advice from the Corner Office: Part III

By Dan Slater

So far, in the “Associate Advice from the Corner Office” series, we’ve heard from partners at Kilpatrick Stockton and Ropes & Gray (here) about the dos and don’ts of associate life. But what does it take to thrive at Cadwalader, the firm with some of the most-reported recent associate layoffs to-date?

For this week’s “Associate Advice” column, we spoke to Cadwalader’s Paul Mourning, who began at the firm as a summer and now chairs its hiring committee. As for the layoffs, Mourning (Dartmouth, ‘80; UVA law, ‘83) told us: “Immediately after the announcements were made, I sent a letter via e-mail to all of our incoming summers and third-years who have offers, assuring them that they would have jobs. And frankly, one of the first things I’ll tell [the summers] when I greet them on the 19th is that we expect to hire all of them out of the program, subject to someone failing in terms of performance.”

How not to fail in terms of performance? Here’s Mourning’s advice:

Cater to the boss: Partners (and senior associates) can be quirky, but it’s the associate’s job to adapt. “Get to know the habits of the people with whom you’re going to be working,” says Mourning. “Things as simple as how they like [work] presented, whether they like oral reports or like to see it in writing.” Also, says Mourning, be familiar with their work schedules; know whether you’re working with people who start early or stay late.

Stick your neck out: “Some people tend to couch in their office and wait for the phone to ring,” says Mourning. “Other people go out and try to be more proactive in the types of assignments they’re getting. For some people, that’s a natural; for others, that means getting out of your comfort zone. What I mean by that is, with so many things going on in a big firm, stick your neck out and look for experiences that you might feel you don’t have any relevant background in. Ultimately, people are going to specialize. But early on, get whatever experience you can.”

Don’t care about making partner? Don’t worry about it: Mourning says that today’s associates tend to focus on what they’re doing — today – and where that’s leading them. “It’s not, ‘I’m going to be here for nine years so I’m going to do whatever the firm requires in order to become a partner,’” he says. Mourning says associates don’t necessarily come in anymore with the goal of becoming partner. “I don’t know if it’s documented, but I think that the expectation for people coming out of school today is that they’re going to hold many jobs. From the firm’s perspective, we want the person who’s looking long term, but “long term” doesn’t have to be 10 years, it could be five years. We want to see someone who’s enthusiastic.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on May 12, 2008 (boomark / email).