The Firm
Since its founding in 1917, Vinson & Elkins has become one of the world's largest and most respected law firms, with over 750 lawyers in offices located in Houston, Austin, Dallas, Washington, D.C., New York, Beijing, Dubai, Moscow, London and Tokyo. The firm employs over 90 legal assistants whose backgrounds, skills and interests enable them to assist the firm's lawyers in providing an exceptionally wide range of services to clients. With several thousand clients ranging from individuals to multinational corporations, the firm provides legal assistants with challenging work involving virtually every aspect of law and business.
The Practice
The size and diversity of the firm's practice have resulted in the development of various practice areas and sections, which function as smaller practice groups within the firm. These sections have evolved around substantive legal areas, as well as around particular lawyers and clients, and include virtually all aspects of civil law.
Legal assistants are hired for specific positions within a section or to join a team of legal assistants and lawyers working on large, complex litigation. Both assignments allow legal assistants to develop experience and skills that enable them to render the best possible assistance to the firm's lawyers and clients. Our lawyers maintain an open-door policy and are encouraged to provide not only challenging and interesting assignments but also the training, guidance, support, and encouragement necessary for professional growth and development.
The Program
Since the firm's legal assistant program began in 1973, it has grown to be one of the most sophisticated in the country. Legal assistants are now involved in almost every facet of our clients' representation, as well as in the administration of the firm. The legal assistant program is administered by the Director of Legal Assistant Administration who is familiar with the job functions and needs of the firm's legal assistants and the opportunities available to them. She consults frequently with the Legal Assistant Committee which is composed of several partners. The Committee is charged with the responsibility of establishing policies and goals, in addition to coordinating long-range planning for the legal assistant program.
Vinson & Elkins' legal assistants have diverse and interesting backgrounds. The minimum requirement for employment in our legal assistant program is a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university and demonstration of a strong academic background. Approximately one-quarter of our legal assistants have completed post-graduate degrees in such areas as business, education, foreign languages, liberal arts, nursing, and political science; another one-third have completed a formal paralegal training program. Most come to the firm with previous working experience that is directly applicable to their positions at the firm. Others are employed immediately upon graduation from college. The firm's size and the support the legal assistant program receives from the lawyers and the firm's administrative personnel enable us to employ and train people with diverse backgrounds, whose intellectual abilities, education, and previous experience indicate that they will be exceptional legal assistants.
Training
New legal assistants receive training by working with lawyers in the representation of the firm's clients. Each legal assistant is directly supervised by one or more lawyers and, in most cases, has opportunities to consult with the lawyers daily. In addition, each new legal assistant is provided a legal assistant mentor who is available to give advice, support, and training to assist with unfamiliar tasks or to provide information regarding firm procedures.
The firm conducts in-house seminars to provide additional training in both basic skills and specific areas of practice. All legal assistants receive training in the utilization of computerized research systems. In addition, legal assistants are encouraged to attend legal education seminars outside the firm that will enhance their professional competence and their contribution to the firm.
More importantly, individual attention and evaluative information are provided to assist in developing skills and knowledge and to identify any problems that may arise so that constructive solutions may be offered.
Evaluations
Formal performance evaluations are conducted after the initial three months of employment and are reviewed with the legal assistant. Merit performance evaluations and salary reviews are conducted annually. Legal assistants actively participate in the formal evaluation process and are encouraged to solicit informal evaluations from time to time from the lawyers with whom they work.
Benefits and Salary
The firm provides an excellent, full-range benefit program that includes medical, dental, life, and disability insurance; participation in a 401(k) plan that allows for savings on a "before-tax" basis, with partial matching contributions from the firm; participation in the firm's pension plan; partial tuition reimbursement for undergraduate and graduate level courses (law school excluded); and membership in local and state professional organizations. Salaries for legal assistants are competitive with national standards and within the geographic regions in which the firm's offices are located.
Working Environment
The offices of lawyers and legal assistants working in each section are grouped together, providing convenient access to client files and encouraging legal assistants and attorneys to work in productive, cooperative teams, while still retaining access to the vast resources and support facilities of the firm. Legal assistants are usually assigned private offices, but occasionally work on-site or in team situations.
The firm's size enables legal assistants to take maximum advantage of technological improvements in communications equipment, office systems, computerized legal support systems, and legal research techniques.
Support Staff
Our support staff includes legal secretaries, project assistants, and word-processing specialists. Legal assistants may also rely upon other in-house support services, such as centralized accounting, mail services, human resources, duplicating, practice support, and office technology, as well as messengers, couriers, and travel services. Our law library's collection of 150,000 volumes is the largest among law firms in the Southwest and one of the largest in the country. A professional staff of legal librarians is available to assist with research projects and to provide additional training in legal research, including computer-assisted legal research.
Career Opportunity
The strength of our program lies in the professional respect accorded to our legal assistants by both our lawyers and the clients of the firm. Legal assistants are professionals and are relied upon to undertake and complete their responsibilities with minimum supervision and with the assurance to the supervising lawyer that the project will be completed in a timely and thorough manner. Career development is assessed on the basis of each individual's ability and willingness to meet the challenges of working in this demanding environment. Legal assistants are encouraged to develop their professional competence on a continuing basis by undertaking new and challenging assignments and participating in continuing education programs. The firm also encourages participation in professional organizations by paying membership dues to national, state, and local legal assistant organizations.
We are convinced that our program offers the opportunity for a rewarding long-term career, and we are seeking individuals who exercise the highest ethical standards and good judgment and who will make a career commitment to their profession and to Vinson & Elkins.
Summary
We offer an outstanding opportunity for a challenging career in an environment that combines the best features of both large and small firms. Vinson & Elkins is an equal opportunity employer.
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