By Vanessa O'Connell
Here at the LB, we understand the recent woes of law-firm associates.
Junior attorneys at many top firms have suffered staff reductions for two years in a row. Those still employed at firms generally worked harder in 2010. Yet many saw little to no increase in their year-end bonuses, despite a modest improvement in law firm profits. See our year-end report.
To combat sagging morale, a few firms recently announced that they would pay new “springtime bonuses” of up to $20,000 to their junior attorneys, according to this report at ATL.
Here’s yet another new solution from Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy: a Harvard accounting class.
Milbank this afternoon informed its 450 associates that it set up a five-year training program at Harvard University for its mid-level associates.
Its new collaboration with Harvard Law School is meant to give its associates training in business issues, in addition to legal issues. That means accounting, economics, finance, and negotiation—areas clients themselves tend to care deeply about.
Milbank is covering the “tuition,” said Scott Edelman, its vice chairman, who compared it to an executive MBA program. Every Milbank associate (inside and outside the U.S.) will participate—starting at the end of their third year through their seventh year.
“In the law-firm model today, most associates who join a firm don’t wind up staying to become partners—that goes without saying,” he said. “We’re investing in them to make them better lawyers while they’re here, but also to prepare them for the outside world.”
The new program will replace elements of other training already in place at Milbank. The firm, which hasn’t yet decided whether to pay its associates a springtime bonus, thinks the program could be the wave of the future for associate training.
Harvard Law School hasn’t done this sort of thing with a corporate law firm in the past. DLA Piper has had a management training program through Harvard Business School - but for partners.
Biglaw associates: Your thoughts?
INAL but the milbank accounting offer may be the early “no partnership for you” warning?
In any case financial accounting of complex instruments remains in the toilet. if you want to learn how, you need to work for Goldman Sachs or Morgan (JP).
accounting is a key reason why Fuld, Cassano, etc are still at large
After taking 8 figure compensation right before their compnanies went bankrupt.
That is where the accounting firms told them to go. With IFRS there will be a shortage of accountants.
Why Harvard? Any state continuing education program can teach associates accounting.
5 years of Saturdays, Sundays, nights and holidays. Thanks Milbank.
Cynical people would think: If our ex-associates become business executives, they’ll hire us. And we can do business consulting with everything hidden behind attorney-client privilege.