It's not unusual for law firms to invest around $1M in recruiting, hiring, training, and retention of Associates over the first four years of their legal career. However, if you look at the actual retention rates through the fourth or fifth year, it is essentially a coin flip on whether the firm retains, or loses that talent. Bryan Parker, CEO of Legal Innovators thinks that it is not a good return on the law firm's (and the Associate's) time and capital investment. Parker believes that you can take a more holistic approach to the recruitment process and evaluate the best talent out there, in particular, women, minorities, and those from underrepresented backgrounds through a two-year process that more resembles the European apprenticeship model than the US on-campus recruiting and Summer Associate method.

In addition to this fascinating discussion, we also have a deep (and fun) discussion of Bryan's sneaker obsession.

Information Inspirations

The cancellation of in-person conferences is on the mind of all of us who usually attend these conferences for our professional development and networking needs. There are alternatives, however. For example, Stanford's CodeX conference is available online, and Greg is on a panel for Litera's April 23rd online event called The Changing Lawyer LIVE! Go check out both conferences.

We want to say how happy we are in David Lat's recovery from his COVID-19 hospitalization. Bob Ambrogi interviewed David after his release from the hospital for his LawNext podcast.

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Why Retention of Legal Talent Can't Be The Equivalent of a Coin Flip - Bryan Parker of Legal Innovators