Professional development

The S&C Approach

S&C is committed to helping our associates develop into the best possible lawyers. In return for their hard work and dedication to the Firm and its clients, our responsibility is to train and mentor our associates and to provide them with an unparalleled foundation for their careers. We endeavor to meet this obligation regardless of market conditions, profitability or any other factor. Further, we believe that the most effective way of accomplishing our goal is by giving our associates a maximum level of responsibility on the greatest variety of interesting matters with the broadest array of talented senior lawyers and supplementing those opportunities with our rich formal training program.

In addition to being committed to our associates’ development, we are focused on providing the highest quality of service to our clients. We believe that our lawyers must be exposed to a wide variety of matters and have access to a diverse array of lawyers in order to be equipped with the generalist background required to deal with the complex legal issues that our clients face. Therefore, we hire associates who thrive on learning from a variety of approaches and styles, not just one.

Prior to their arrival at S&C, associates elect to work in one of four practice areas: General Practice/Corporate, Litigation, Tax or Estates and Personal. Because we recognize that not every associate has the same interests and goals, we seek to accommodate the particular interests of each associate in staffing our assignments within each of those four practice areas. As a result, a hallmark of our assignment system is flexibility, in contrast to many other firms that adhere to strict practice-group rotations or partner rotations. Under our system, an associate’s professional training and career are not tied to a particular partner’s style, client base or practice area.

The type of work S&C does is complex and distinctive. We do not handle commoditized, routine matters. This provides our most junior associates with opportunities not only for early responsibility and exposure to clients and senior lawyers but for learning at the highest levels of the profession. We are confident that the training we provide our associates prepares them for every kind of challenge and enables them to provide excellent client service and develop solid client relationships.

Formal Training Programs

In addition to regular “on-the-job” training, S&C offers a robust curriculum of formal training programs. All incoming associates participate in an orientation program, which consists of a series of lectures and workshops designed to provide new associates with substantive knowledge and basic skills that they will use in their practice. This year’s topics included the following:

• Did You Get Everything You Need? The Art of Document Collection
• Securities Law Survival Tips
• Getting the Best Brief Out the Door
• Closing the Deal

Following the orientation program, all associates begin a three-year junior associate training curriculum that introduces them to the breadth of the work handled by the four practice groups and provides more in-depth training on specific transactions, documents, and areas of law. After the completion of the junior associate training curriculum, training continues throughout the lawyer’s career through advanced training programs on a variety of topics.

Associate Adviser Program

Our formal Adviser Program is designed to provide associates with the support, experiences and other tools necessary to develop and pursue their career and professional development goals. This program provides associates in all practice groups and offices with a consistent framework for advice and professional development by pairing each associate with at least one partner adviser from his/her practice group. At a minimum, the partner adviser and associate advisee meet bi-annually to discuss, among other things: the advisee’s professional development plan, practice group milestones and other specific career goals, current and past assignments, training and other relevant matters that may arise. Advisers will periodically communicate with the relevant Assigning Partner, the Director of Professional Development and Pro Bono, and the Associate Development Manager to assist their advisees in securing appropriate opportunities to meet their professional development goals. Thus, the program provides associates with a “holistic” approach to professional development by integrating our assignment system, mentoring initiatives, professional education and training programs, and pro bono programs.

Floor Wizard Program

This program provides first- and second-year associates in New York with easy access to “Floor Wizards,” mid-level and senior associates who have volunteered to help the junior associates located in nearby offices become familiar with life at the Firm. The Floor Wizards are available to respond to “nuts and bolts” questions about office procedures and practice-related issues, as well as other matters that may arise as the junior associates adjust to life at the Firm. One of the primary objectives of the Floor Wizard Program is to help build and develop a sense of community across practice groups and among lawyers and administrative staff. To this end, Floor Wizards are given a budget to organize social events both on their floors and outside the Firm to introduce the junior associates to other lawyers and staff at S&C.

Assignments

Associates in all practice groups receive assignments from an Assigning Partner, who is assisted by an Associate Development Manager. Together, the Assigning Partner and Associate Development Manager monitor associates’ workloads and work experiences to ensure that each associate is developing a broad range of skills at the earliest opportunity and meeting the milestones for his/her particular practice group. Every effort is made to customize the distribution of assignments to meet the needs of the associates, the clients and the Firm. When staffing cases, deals and short-term projects, considerations include the associate’s interest in the matter, the associate’s availability and the potential professional and intellectual benefits to the associate of developing skills in that area or of working with that particular team of colleagues and clients.

Evaluations

All associates receive formal performance reviews from a partner. In most cases, these are conducted semi-annually for the associate’s first two years, and then annually thereafter. Associates also receive informal reviews and feedback from their colleagues on a regular basis, including the feedback mid-level and senior associates receive through an upward review process.

Recent Initiatives

• For the past two years, the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Firm, Rodge Cohen and Joe Shenker, have conducted “Town Hall” meetings with our associates. During their Town Halls, Rodge and Joe have spoken in detail about the Firm’s performance over the prior year, the financial outlook for the upcoming year, and areas of strength and growth for different practices. In addition, they have discussed candidly the criteria for partnership at S&C and have answered any questions posed to them by the associates.
  
  
• For the past two years, the Firm has conducted extensive focus group sessions with associates of all seniority levels and in every practice group to get feedback about a variety of issues, including formal and informal mentoring, training, assignments, evaluations and upward reviews, benefits and policies, work-life balance initiatives and morale at the Firm. As in years past, the feedback from the focus groups has contributed to the yearly agenda of the Firm’s Associate Experience Committee.
  
  
• S&C was awarded “one of the 20 coveted spots” on The American Lawyer’s 2009 A-List. S&C performed impressively in all four A-List categories: associate satisfaction, revenue per lawyer, pro bono hours per lawyer and diversity representation.