As a new associate, you will participate in an intensive three-day Orientation Program in our Chicago office.  Associates starting in New York City or Washington are invited to attend the Chicago orientation.  This Program ensures that the first steps you take in your career are solid ones by providing you with a comprehensive introduction to working at Jenner & Block.   Our Orientation Program also includes a four-hour diversity awareness training program in which all our new attorneys, including experienced attorneys, participate.

As a lateral associate, you will participate in our Lateral Associate Orientation (LAO) Program.  Upon acceptance of an offer, a future lateral associate is coupled with a “Lateral Contact” who can answer any questions you have before your first day.  This Lateral Contact is also responsible for regularly “checking in” with the new lateral during the first few months of employment, taking you to lunch, the dinner buffet and TGIF, the Firm’s weekly Friday “happy hour.”  For more information about the Lateral Orientation Program, please click here.

Whether you are in the Litigation, Corporate or Real Estate Department, we provide a wide range of in-house training programs designed especially to help you learn the skills you need to succeed.  As a junior associate, you will participate in our Core Competency Training Programs.   These programs include lectures, demonstrations, and hands-on training opportunities -- for example, we conduct an annual NITA-based deposition program, and offer you the opportunity to participate in mock trial programs. By providing you with simulated deposition and courtroom experiences, you will be able to help hone your skills as trial lawyers. Our transactional lawyers also participate in mock negotiation sessions designed to teach them to negotiate effectively and manage clients’ expectations.

Another key component of our in-house training are courses designed to help our associates improve core client service skills such as writing and effective professional communication. Partners, outside consultants, coaches and other experts hold group and one-on-one coaching sessions.  Our writing programs are particularly comprehensive and designed to help you develop an effective writing style.  For junior associates, we offer classes on legal writing, writing legal memoranda and brief writing.  For junior and mid-level associates, we offer small group sessions on organizing and outlining and one-on-one editing classes.

In addition to our extensive in-house training programs, the Firm offers you a wide range of external CLE options including live, web-based, and videotaped programs.  For example, because the Firm is a preferred plus member of the Practising Law Institute, all attorneys in the Firm can attend Practising Law Institute’s courses (and web casts) for free, as well as take advantage of special discounts on course handbooks, audio/video products, and treatises.  The Firm is also a subscriber to West LegalEdcenter, which gives attorneys access to more than 8,500 continuing legal education programs.  One of the benefits of this subscription includes unlimited access to CLE programs 24 x 7, from any location with an internet connection.  Associates regularly attend and access external CLE programs designed to help them acquire the practice skills and substantive expertise needed for specific practice groups and departments.

To help associates target the specific skills they need to develop and to assess their progress as they advance in their careers, the Firm has created a Competency Benchmark Project.  Several of the Firm’s departments have created written benchmarks that identify the specific skills appropriate for junior, mid-level and senior associates in their department.  The benchmarks cover a wide range of skills that you need to develop as an associate, including trial and litigation; writing and drafting; negotiating; business and client development; and Firm management.  The Competency Benchmark Project ensures that you have a clear understanding of the skills and experience you need to progress and develop at Jenner & Block and help you focus on ways that you can gain these skills through work assignments, pro bono and training opportunities.

Associates in their fourth year and above participate in the Firm’s Career Development Plan Program (CDPP).  The CDPP is designed to focus mid-level and senior associates on the importance of working on their own professional and career development.  Through a series of lectures and smaller group sessions, you will learn the basics of business development and law firm management.  The Career Development Plan that you create will be discussed annually during your formal review meeting.  In addition, you will be paired with an advisor, whom you will meet with twice a year to discuss and update your Plan.

All associates participate in the Firm’s Performance Review Process.  For second-year associates and above, this process begins in the fall and culminates with a meeting with members of the Firm’s Associate Development & Evaluation Committee.  The meeting is designed to provide you with feedback and includes a discussion on your goals for the year ahead.  First years and experienced attorneys who join throughout the year participate in a six-month review process designed to give them feedback and help them fully integrate into the Firm.

A major component of an associate’s development at Jenner & Block comes from “on the job training.”  We constantly encourage you to look for work assignments with partners on diverse projects.  By doing so, junior associates are able to amass the skills they need to progress at the Firm and also identify the types of cases that they enjoy.  All associates are encouraged to approach partners and Practice Group Leaders directly to seek out the work experiences that they want.

On the job training also comes through the Firm’s pro bono program, which is like no other in the country.  In fact, associate Lindsay C. Harrison had the opportunity to argue a case in front of the United States Supreme Court in 2009 (read more).  Our unique pro bono program provides associates with the unparalleled exposure to meaningful and rewarding cases.

Some of the ways our program differs from other law firms include the fact that an associate can work on a pro bono matter of his or her choice under the supervision of a partner of his or her choice.  There is no limit to the amount of pro bono work that our attorneys can undertake.  Our pro bono program helps provide junior associates with hands-on courtroom experience, handling criminal trials, political asylum hearings, appellate arguments and civil rights cases.  Our lawyers also represent artists and not-for-profit organizations in transactional matters.

To learn more about Jenner & Block’s pro bono commitment, click here.

Our associates will be the future leaders of the Firm.  We encourage and welcome your active involvement in Firm life.  Mid-level and senior associates serve as mentors to summer associates and first-year associates.  As an associate, you will also be encouraged to participate in various Firm committees -- e.g., pro bono, training, hiring, summer program and the associates’ committee -- and in Firm initiatives and projects such as task forces and our six affinity groups.

Jenner & Block enjoys a long and proud tradition of being leaders in the legal, local and national communities in which we live.  Our reputation is aided and enhanced by your participation in bar associations, civic, charitable, or religious organizations, and alumni programs, boards, or other professional organizations.

Partner Charlotte L. Wager is a Co-Chair of the Firm’s Hiring Executive Committee and is the Chief Talent Officer.  Ms. Wager chairs the Firm’s Associate Development & Evaluation Committee and Associate Training Committee.  She and a team of Professional Development professionals are charged with organizing and administering the comprehensive training and development programs the Firm offers to associates which includes working with consultants and external providers to ensure a wide range of resources are available. Should you have any questions about professional development at Jenner & Block, please email Charlotte Wager at cwager@jenner.com.