It also can be daunting: What kind of law do you want to practice? What will be your style of lawyering? Will you connect with a mentor?
Jones Day has an answer to those questions: time. Give the junior lawyers time to develop and discover where their passions truly lie. That is why, in the early 1980s, Jones Day created the unique New Lawyers Group. It is intended to give its newest hires time to transition from law school, explore multiple practice areas, and work with a wide range of partners and associates.
The New Lawyers Group, or NLG, includes lawyers from Jones Day's 40 offices on five continents. Working with the NLG coordinators in each office, the new lawyers receive intensive training and mentoring from colleagues throughout the Firm. In our U.S. offices, the new lawyers are given a year to consider their options, and up to two years in our international offices.
While some new lawyers know what they want to focus on, many others are interested in exploring their options. A number of law firms assign their new hires to a designated practice from day one. That may be understandable from a short-term perspective based on a firm's immediate needs. But that may not be the best approach for the junior lawyer.
Jones Day takes a long-term view of the new lawyers who join the Firm. The goal is for each of them to join a practice group in which he/she has the most interest and potential, even if there is no short-term need. For decades, this method has proven quite beneficial for our associates, the practices they join, and our clients.
The NLG program frequently is cited by recruits as a primary reason for coming to Jones Day. A major cornerstone of the program is the New Lawyers Academy, held in the Firm's Washington, D.C., Office. Each year, about 200 new lawyers from all over the world come together for four days of orientation and training, sessions with Firm leaders, and introductions to the more than 20 practice areas. They also have a lot of fun networking and bonding.
As they interact with fellow associates from far-flung offices, those connections prove crucial to their careers moving forward. Because Jones Day is a true global partnership, it means your colleagues in Shanghai or Sydney are just as invested in your success in serving clients as your colleagues in Munich, Milan, and Miami.
"The annual New Lawyers Academy is one of the best examples of who we are as a Firm and our One Firm Worldwide ethos," said Shirlethia Franklin, Practice Leader of the New Lawyers Group and partner in the Business & Tort Litigation Practice.
"It is where they learn everything about who we really are," added Shirlethia, an accomplished litigator and former senior official in the U.S. Department of Justice. "It's not just all of the substantive training we offer, it's also the intangibles—showing them the secret sauce of what makes Jones Day Jones Day. I'm willing to bet that we are one of the only firms that does something of this magnitude every single year, making the investment to bring together all of our new lawyers from around the world."
The NLG program has served as a solid launching pad for many of the Firm's Practice Leaders, including Anna Cartwright (NLG class of 2003), Liz McRee (NLG class of 2001), John Majoras (NLG class of 1986), Miguel Eaton (NLG class of 2007), Heather Lennox (NLG class of 1992), and our current Managing Partner, Greg Shumaker (NLG class of 1987).
The Firm considers the commitment to its newest lawyers to be in the best interest of Jones Day's long-term growth and success.
"The reason we invest so many resources into the NLG program and the annual Academy is that these are the folks who are going to be leading Jones Day in 10, 15, 20 years," said Shirlethia. "I tell them every year, 'You are the future of this Firm.'"