Given the state of the legal market following the Great Recession, with client demands for lower costs and a buyer’s market for legal talent, law firm leaders should consider replacing their current system of junior-associate hiring with something more akin to a residency program.
The system of recruiting top graduates of America’s top law schools, developed in the 19th century by New York’s Cravath, Swaine & Moore, established a training program that rotated these new lawyers through various practice groups and, after several years, promoted the best to partnership. Compensation was lockstep, increasing with each passing year at the firm, and annual bonuses were based on billable hours. Because of its success, the “Cravath” model spread quickly to the rest of the major law firms, where it has remained steady for more than 100 years.
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