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A Law Firm Should Hire Apprentices, Not Interns

Being a lawyer is not a job; it is a craft and a trade that requires experience and training.

By Jillian L. McNeil  
on
Jillian L McNeil

Jillian L. McNeil

From June through August, many firms—whether large or small—bring on a group of law students to train, assess, and ultimately cultivate into the type of lawyer that firm needs. Employers typically call these students “interns” or, if you are at a larger firm, “summer associates.” But at our firm, we refer to these individuals as “apprentices.” That is because we hire only lawyers (or lawyers to be) that we believe have the potential to be long-term members of the firm.

Historically, an apprenticeship is a system of training an individual in an art, trade, or craft under a master in the field. With their residency and internship programs, doctors and medical students are perhaps the most well-known of modern-day apprentices. The legal profession should have the equivalent.

Unfortunately, unlike doctors, the most applicable training we come out of law school with is often in editing and citation. While useful, this training does not teach us to become lawyers, only editors.

Like the blacksmiths and apothecaries of ages past, lawyers develop a craft that can only be learned through experience and time, under the watchful eye of those lawyers that have come before. Yet we have developed a system that declares law students or recent graduates, often with little to no work experience, to be the future of our practices upon graduation. This is both near-sighted and dangerous.

While it is ultimately the goal to bring on smart, curious, and hard-working law students and graduates, these young lawyers need training. And not the training that comes automatically from attending law school. But, rather, the training that comes from acting as a lawyer under real-life circumstances, doing real-life work, dealing with real-life adversaries, and managing real-life clients. These are things you can only learn from experience.

Thus, at our firm, we hire apprentices, not interns.

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I am fortunate enough to have seen this issue from both sides. I have been an intern, an apprentice, and now, a lawyer. While they sound similar, there is certainly a difference. Currently, I supervise and hire all non-attorney employees, including our firm’s law student apprentices. But I started out at the firm as a rising 3L law student apprentice, training under those individuals that run the firm today. Since then, I have learned the value of the training I received, and now hope to pass on to firm employees.

I know that, academic credentials aside, it is the day-to-day experience that counts. Thus, when working with our law student apprentices, it is crucial to treat them—and train them—like the junior lawyers that they are. Law school teaches us very little about how to practice, but the real-life training an apprenticeship can provide is crucial to maintaining and developing our profession.

Being a lawyer is not a job. It is a craft and a trade that requires experience and training. As members of the profession, it is our job to provide that. There is always a balance. As working lawyers, our job is to serve our clients, and, after that, our firm. But, as members of our profession, our job should be to cultivate and train the workforce that will maintain the standards and practices that define our legal profession.

Jillian L. McNeil was an attorney at Balestriere Fariello, a trial and investigations law firm which represents clients in all aspects of complex commercial litigation and arbitration from pre-filing investigations to trial and appeals. You can reach firm partner John Balestriere at john.g.balestriere@balestrierefariello.com.

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