Think Long-Term When Hiring Law Students

If a law student is not someone you think could be an asset to your firm in the future, move on to another candidate.

Don’t hire those who won’t be a good fit for your firm down the road.

It is nearing the time of year again when law firms, whether large or small, bring on groups of law students to train, assess, and assist with their various cases. These law students are hired under a number of monikers: summer associates, interns, law clerks, and apprentices (which is the term we use at our firm). But no matter the title, hiring law student interns requires a lot of planning and consideration.

Think long-term when hiring your summer interns. If a law student is not someone you think could be an asset to your firm in the future, move on to another candidate. While providing training to future lawyers is of course an important aspect of our profession, it is frankly expensive and time-consuming to supervise and train individuals with at most a few semesters of “experience.” What is the point of these costs if you are not training individuals who could be potential members of your firm?

This is not to say that every law student you hire for a summer will ultimately join your firm as a lawyer in the future (or that it should be any given law firm’s goal). There are so many variables that go into such a decision, particularly if you are at a mid-sized or smaller law firm that does not need to hire a new class of junior attorneys every year. But each student intern should be someone you can envision working with and training in the future.

Look at more than grades and test scores. An individual with the ability to work hard, multitask, and simply be a pleasant person to be around is far more of an asset to a law firm than an “A” in Torts. Hiring individuals who truly fit into the culture of your firm not only helps to keep the disruption of a group of new employees to a minimum, but also provides you with a pool of individuals to select from who you already know you would be confident working with when the need to hire a junior attorney arises in the future.

Assess your long-term needs before you arrange for interviews. It is important to take into account your firm’s caseload and the availability of experienced attorneys to provide the necessary training and attention to the lawyers-in-training. This can mean hiring five summer associates one year, two another, and, on occasion, making the decision not to hire anyone. This not only helps a law firm to hire better candidates, but also is the only way to be fair to those who you hire (and to those who are tasked with the responsibility of training those who you hire). There are few things that are more disruptive than a staff member with too little work. This goes for interns as well as full-time staff.

Law student interns are not cheap or free labor  (indeed, in some jurisdictions, it is not permitted to have unpaid student interns –- make sure you know the rules on this wherever you practice before determining your payment structure). In fact, they are costly, both in terms of finances and time, and should be thought of as an investment. But what is even more important is the duty that we all have as professionals to train these individuals, and to develop future attorneys who are ready to work and be a part of any given law firm’s team. If we can focus on cultivating talent in a manageable way, we will be able to benefit both our own law firms and the profession as a whole.

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Jillian L McNeilJillian 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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