Another law firms, Howrey, announced this week that they too will begin an apprentice program for their 1st and 2nd year associates.

Starting this fall, Howrey will begin selling recruits on a new program at the firm in which associates will spend their first two years serving as “apprentices” before taking on significant client work.

As part of the two-year program, associates will spend the majority of their time at the litigation-heavy firm attending training seminars where they will learn the practical skills of lawyering, said managing partner Robert Ruyak in an interview.

During their first year at the firm, associates will take classes on legal writing and research and will work on pro bono projects to give them hands-on experience without charging clients. In the second year of the program, associates will be embedded at client sites for several months at a reduced billing rate of between $150 and $200 an hour. They will also continue to take classes on litigation skills such as trial tactics, cross examination, and mediation and arbitration.

Howrey started working on the program about two years ago when the firm decided it was going to move away from lockstep compensation for its associates. (In January, the firm did away with its lockstep model for associates, instead paying them based on measured levels of competency.)

I, for one, am happy to see this trend towards an apprenticeship/internship for recent law school graduates continue.

Pollyanna warning: In anything bad, good can rise. Firms can either embrace the opportunity to change, or not. Today’s economic reality, the mass lay offs, and law firm dissolutions provide the kindling for good change to occur. What law firms do with these opportunities is yet to be seen.

I will be moderating a panel at the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s Second Annual Small Firm and Solo Practitioner Conference, June 24-25.

Social Networking For Lawyers: A Roadmap to Success
Thursday, June 25. 9:15 – 10:30 a.m.

In this interactive session we will explore the buzz surrounding social networking and social media tools and how solo and small firms practitioners can effectively employ them to communicate with current clients; control your messaging as you reach out to new clients and the media; and to meet, network and collaborate with colleagues.

Our panel of solo and small firm attorneys will discuss their experiences with blogging as a social media tool, and we will spotlight several social networking applications, including Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. By calling upon their personal experiences, our panel will highlight best practices for how you can incorporate these and other Web 2.0 applications into your business development, PR and networking activities.

Speakers:

Adrianos Facchetti is an Internet defamation attorney and author of the California Defamation Law Blog.

Gordon P. Firemark is an Entertainment attorney with the Law Offices of Gordon P. Firemark and Entertainment Law Update podcast.

H. Scott Leviant is the practice group director at Initiative Legal Group, LLP and the primary author and editor-in-chief of The Complex Litigator.

Victoria Pynchon is an attorney-mediator and author of Settle it Now! Negotiation Law Blog.

You can follow us on Twitter @heathermilligan, @adrianos, @gfiremark, @hsleviant, and @vpynchon. Along with @LACBA and #solo09.

Headlines today are blasting: BigLaw Reluctant to Respond to Open Casting Call and Few Large Firms Answer FMC’s Calls for Help.

WARNING: Going Pollyanna on you.

Where’s the fire? What I read in the story, and what I think is incredible, is that the smaller and regional firms have greater opportunities and chances to make it to Round 2 in the RFP process.

Rather than sit and wonder why Skadden or Cravath didn’t participate, let’s hear it for Abbott Simses and The Law Offices of Tom Fulkerson for making it to Round 2!! Congratulations and good luck!

So a lot of BigLaw firms didn’t participate in the process. According to the above articles, of the 50 firms that downloaded the RFP, 17 are AmLaw 100 and 2 are AmLaw 200.

First of all, those percentages aren’t that bad. But why didn’t the rest of the AmLaw 200 participate? Maybe their rates are too high? Maybe they don’t want to deal with alternative fee arrangements? Maybe they didn’t fit the criteria that the CLIENT wants in the law firm that will represent them?

Whatever the reason, what I read in these stories is that the door is now wide open to a whole new crop of firms. Small. Regional. Boutique. It no longer matters. The questions are now: are you a good fit for the client? Can you meet the clients’ needs? And, that’s sounds good to me!

The following 32 law firms have made it to the next phase of FMC’s challenge:

Abbott Simses (a 16-lawyer firm in New Orleans)
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
Andrews Kurth
Beirne Maynard & Parsons (a 60-lawyer firm based in Houston and Dallas)
Brown McCarroll (a 120-lawyer firm based in Texas)
Drinker Biddle & Reath
Fulbright & Jaworski
Law Offices of Tom Fulkerson (a four-lawyer firm based in Houston)
Gardere Wynne Sewell
Greenberg Traurig
Gruber Hurst Johansen
Hail (an 18-lawyer firm based in Dallas)
Howrey
Jackson Walker
Kirkland & Ellis
Lavin, O’Neil, Ricci, Cedrone & DiSipio (a midsize firm based in Philadelphia)
Littler Mendelson
Looper Reed & McGraw (a 90-lawyer firm based in Texas)
Legal Research Center in Minneapolis
McDermott Will & Emery
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius
Pepper Hamilton
Roach & Newton (a six-lawyer firm based in Texas)
Seyfarth Shaw
Strasburger & Price
Summit Law Group (a 32-lawyer firm based in Seattle)
Sutherland Asbill & Brennan
Thomspon & Knight
Valorem Law Group (a seven-lawyer firm based in Chicago)
Vinson & Elkins
Wildman Harrold
Wilson Esler Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker
Womble Carlyle

Like many legal industry pundits, consultants and visionaries, I am fascinated by what the legal industry might look post-recession.

According to The Legal Intelligencer’s article, Law Firms Post-Recovery: How They’ll Hire and Whom They’ll Serve, Global will be “Out,” and Regional, smaller will be “In.”

Industry consultants and firm leaders alike anticipate law firms will primarily model themselves to suit their clients’ geographic needs, rather than focusing on diversifying practices.

For those of us who’ve been on the business side of law, we watched as regional law firms opened offices in New York, London and Asia all the while branding themselves as “global,” when, in reality, they were great regional firms with even greater ambitions.

Managing and practicing law by office, region or geographic boundaries was out. We rebranded, externally, along practice and industry groups in the hopes of cross-selling and increasing our market share within the client’s legal spend.

We also watched (in frustration) as partners continued to represent their clients the same way they always did. Cross-selling (for the most part) never took off, relationships between the attorneys in the “home” office and the “satellite” offices were never developed … and the bureaucracy and rates continued to rise and frustrate.

While there will always be room for the true global powerhouses in the post-recession economy, there will not be enough work for every AmLaw 100 firm to grow with such aspirations.

So, what’s so bad about being smaller and servicing clients regionally?

According to Hildebrandt’s Joseph Altonji, he sees

opportunities for midsize firms to acquire laterals from the largest firms and said that is a good thing. While some may be getting pushed out of the large firms, many lawyers and clients are repositioning themselves. Why would a partner, even with a profitable, strong practice, stay in a firm with thousands of lawyers around the world — and the infrastructure that entails — when his practice is focused mainly in one geographic area, Altonji questioned.

“So I think what you’re going to start to see is some of the bigger firms will optimize around broad swaths of work that need that infrastructure,” he said.

“Other firms will start to optimize around more local practices.”

This isn’t to say that clients won’t use both types of firm, he said. But there are only a handful of firms that currently meet the truly global model and only a certain number of clients who require such a reach, he said.

So, let’s hear it for the regional law firms! The boutiques!! Smaller is the new “Big.” Regional is the new “Global.”

Whether it’s called an apprentice program, internship or fellowship, another law firm has joined the bandwagon.

Kudo’s to Louisville, Ky.-based Frost Brown Todd for launching their apprentice program.

Rather than raking in a full salary, these apprentices will spend their first 1,000 hours learning on the job at lower pay and under stricter scrutiny. The pressure to bill will also be relieved under the program. New associates in the apprentice program will earn $80,000, but only be required to bill 1,000 hours. That’s 800 fewer hours than previous classes were expected to bill, firm chairman John Crockett told the ABA Journal today.

(skip)

In the firm’s press release, Crockett addressed the ongoing debate over the current law firm hiring model. Paying top dollar for inexperienced lawyers and then immediately having them work for clients isn’t making sense to law firm managers or clients.

I am a huge proponent of these programs. So, come on, who’s next??

The idea of paying a recent law school grad $160,000 (oops, I mean $140,000), when they have no applicable skills has been a lose-lose proposition for the law firms, the associates, and the client.

Having been around legal marketing for more than a decade now, I have watched how our firms have tackled diversity and women’s initiatives. The Association of Corporate Counsel is highly vocal on these initiatives, and clients are driving diversity initiatives via the RFP process.

Microsoft made waves last July when it announced the launch of a legal department program that would pay out bonuses for outside counsel diversity, to both the firms and the senior in-house attorneys who work with them. The law firms can nab a 2 percent bonus for showing measurable results in diversity levels—either by increasing the hours worked by minority lawyers on Microsoft matters or by increasing the number of total U.S.-based diverse counsel within the firm. On the in-house side, 5 percent of the bonus that goes to senior Microsoft lawyers is contingent upon whether at least three-quarters of the firms that opted for the first bonus option meet their goal. The in-house component recognizes that matter staffing and management is often jointly handled by outside and inside lawyers.

Whatever your personal opinions are in regards to these types of initiatives, lawsuits like these, “Ex-Associate Claims Mayer Brown Used Her as ‘Marketing Tool,” make it more difficult for firm’s to actively promote diversity.

An African-American former associate at Mayer Brown’s office in Charlotte, N.C., has filed a discrimination suit that claims the law firm used her as a “marketing tool” before firing her in 2008.

Former associate Venus Yvette Springs, a magna cum laude graduate of Duke Law School, alleges that when she was hired in 2007 there were only two other African-Americans at the firm’s Charlotte office and no others in the real estate practice group where she worked. Above the Law was the first to post news of the lawsuit (PDF posted by Above the Law).

“Springs was hired, in whole or in part, because the Charlotte office needed to increase its number of African-American attorneys,” the suit says. “Upon information and belief, firm documents refer to the hiring of an African-American as a ‘marketing tool.’ Springs was used as a marketing tool, asked to attend on behalf of Mayer Brown bar and other functions where diversity would be perceived as a positive. As discussed below, the need for diversity gave way to the firm’s underlying discriminatory culture and practices.”

So, what’s a law firm to do? Not hire a magna cum laude graduate from a well-regarded law school? Bad law firm. What were you thinking? Sending an African-American to attend a program on behalf of the firm? For shame.

I hate to break the news to anyone reading this: EVERY lawyer in the firm is a potential “marketing tool” for the marketing department.

You write well? I’m making you editor of the blog. Tool.

You speak well? You are off to that conference. Tool.

You present well? You are representing the firm at the exhibit hall table at the industry conference. Tool.

You social?? I’m sending you to any and every cocktail party, table of ten I need to fill. Tool.

Grow up. We’re all tools of the firm because we are part of the firm’s success or lack thereof (yes, even I am a tool of the firm). We all have a role to play. Those who embrace these roles will find success within the firm’s political structure, and through their business development efforts. Those who reject it … we’ll, good luck finding a new job once your lawsuit hits the Internet.

Today seems to be the day for an economic reality check. And while some believe that the economic downturn is about to turn around for the legal industry, the legal industry, in reality, is still being hit hard job losses:

The U.S. legal sector shed 1,300 jobs in May, according to statistics released Friday by the U.S. Department of Labor.

While the industry has lost jobs every month so far in 2009, May’s losses mark the smallest drop in legal jobs this year. All told, 14,400 legal-services jobs are gone since the beginning of the year, and 25,500 since a year ago, according to the Labor Department. The statistics are seasonally adjusted. When not adjusted, the department reports 30,200 job cuts over the past year.

In remarks today, President Obama does not share in the belief that the economic recovery is around the corner:

Obama called the smaller-than-expected slashing of jobs a sign that the economy was moving in the right direction. But he cautioned bluntly that “we’re still in the middle of a very deep recession” and that “it’s going to take a considerable amount of time for us to pull out of.”

And while the federal stimulus package promises 600,000 new jobs, I don’t know if any of those will assist the 30,000 legal sector jobs lost in the past year.

Eager to show action on the ailing economy, President Barack Obama promised Monday to speed federal money into hundreds of public works projects this summer, vowing that 600,000 jobs will be created or saved.

In today’s economic times, we must be nimble with our ideas of what a career in the legal industry looks like.

Gone are the days of the first year associate making $160,000.

Gone are the days of an AmLaw 100 firm being the brass ring for career choices.

However, many mid-sized, small and regional law firms are prospering in the current economy.

With eight lateral hires this year, Sheppard Mullin is not exactly buckling under the weight of the recession. Rate pressure at larger firms is driving partners to look around for better prospects, said Sheppard Chairman Guy Halgren.

“We hear a lot from lateral candidates: ‘My current firm is pricing me out of my market,” Halgren said. “It’s definitely one of the things that’s a major point in every lateral conversation: ‘How much flexibility will I have on my rate?’ Our rates are generally lower than the firms from where our candidates join us.”

While lateral moves at the top firms have nearly frozen, midsize firms like Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton; Buchalter Nemer; and Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis are regularly cranking out new-hire press releases.

While the motivations for partner moves are numerous and often complex, sources said midsize firms are seizing on several opportunities in the current economic downturn: Clients want lower rates; partners want more control; midsize firms that didn’t go gangbusters on expansion in the boom times still have the resources to invest in smart hiring; and midsize firms are convincing partners they are more financially stable. (Emphasis added.)

I might not have learned much in my college statistics class, but I did learn this:

Statistics are for populations, not individuals, in the sense that while they are a guide as to what might happen to us in general, they cannot predict what will happen to you or me as an individual.

And while the above quote is referencing medical conditions, I find it true for just about everything … including legal marketing.

There has been a lot written and debated in recent weeks as to the effectiveness of social networking, Twitter in particular, to legal marketing and business development efforts.

All I can say is that statistics are for populations, not individuals. If it works for you, great. If it doesn’t work for you, that’s fine as well.

Twitter, for me, is just another tool in my legal marketing toolbox. It rests there with speaking, writing, cross-selling, up-selling, sales, direct mail, advertising, client “face time,” client interviews, and so on. I approach every attorney and practice as a unique entity and situation. By pulling out my “bag of tricks,” I can hopefully create an individual approach for the person or situation at hand

Am I concerned about the “statistics” of social networking and how many people drop Twitter after a month? Not at all.

For me, as an individual, I can point to the direct benefits. I have heard story after story about how social networking IS working for attorneys. Later this month, I’m moderating a panel on Social Networking for Lawyers: A Roadmap for Success at the LACBA Small Firm & Solo Practitioners Conference with a panel of attorneys who have all been extremely successful in their social networking efforts.

Just because “it is there” does not mean it will work for you. You have to put your PERSONAL effort into your marketing and business development, whether it is in a 2.0 medium or not.

Social networking is about building your personal network. It is the law of attraction. And it is the law of hard work.

Jeffrey Gitomer breaks it down like this:

1. Position yourself as attractive with your valuable information that others can use and benefit from. My weekly column in papers. My book in bookstores. And my weekly email magazine in your inbox positions me as a person of value that offers valuable information about sales, service, loyalty, leadership, and personal development that people resonate with and can use the minute they read it.

2. Build a platform where people can easily find you and get the information or message you’re trying to convey. Website, blog, ezine, speeches, books, white papers, creative ideas posted, and philosophies offered in writing creates major attraction.

2.5 Work your ass off. Reality bites – especially when times are bad or volatile. If you are serious about creating the law of attraction, you gotta resolve, create a game plan, and work at it daily. Harder than you can imagine.

The 2.0 medium (including Twitter) is still new, but it is growing and here to stay. The early adopters are paving the way and best practices are starting to emerge. Give it time and create your own results through your personal actions and efforts.