Developing New Attorneys

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There was an interesting article in the ABA Journal recently on the topic of coaching in which three attorneys were assisted in identifying their career goals and planning a way to achieve them, the first of which is a new attorney. Although the article focuses on outside coaches, there are important lessons on questions to be asked within your own firm.  Our firm, like every other, has several needs, but it can be difficult to find attorneys who individually satisfy all of them.  If you examine the talents and preferences of each attorney, you may instead find that your firm’s needs are covered by a range of attorneys.  For example, if you find an associate with great interpersonal skills, he may work more productively on cases involving a lot of client interaction, and with some grooming, he may eventually become an approachable supervisor to new associates.  If you find an associate has a talent for public speaking, she may be the right choice to make presentations to clients and eventually may become a dynamic trial attorney.  By starting this examination and discussion with the associates early, you can foster those talents to benefit the firm and its clients, while keeping the associates feeling increasingly fulfilled and productive.  The key, once you identify the associates’ skills, preferences, and goals, is finding assignments in which they are best utilized, and then continuing to regularly reevaluate this match.  After all, just as your associates may change over time, so may the firm’s needs.