Your Focus: Learn foundational skills needed to succeed in your practice area

When you start at Jenner & Block as a junior associate, we make sure that you have all the information, training and support that you need in order to be successful.  We provide a comprehensive orientation program to help introduce you to the Firm and your Department.  We give you a mentor with whom you meet regularly (2 hours per month).   First-year associates are paired with senior associates; second and third year associates are paired with partners.

Junior associates attend a monthly all-associates meeting, which is coordinated by an elected Associates Committee.  Junior associates also participate in an extensive in-house training program.  We have more than 100 in-house programs designed to teach you everything you need to know to be successful at the Firm.

During this time, the goal is for you to work on a broad range of assignments with different lawyers, different clients and different types of matters.  We help you get a diverse docket of matters -- billable and pro bono.  We want you to be exposed to different styles so that you begin to develop your own authentic style of lawyering.  We want you to develop a strong foundation of legal skills -- we focus on research, analysis and writing.  We also look for you to understand and “live” the Firm’s core values.

We have written benchmarks that describe the types of skills and experiences that you should try to develop as a junior associate.  These include general competencies such as showing initiative, communicating clearly and demonstrating professional judgment, as well as milestones specific to your practice area -- taking depositions, negotiating deals.  You are expected to track your progress in reaching these benchmarks and to approach partners and practice group leaders directly to obtain the experiences you want.  You can select your own pro bono matters under the supervision of a partner of your choice.  Your progress is formally evaluated at the end of each year.