Professional development

The S&C Approach

S&C is committed to helping our associates develop into the best lawyers. In return for our associates’ 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. Our philosophy is to match the best teams of lawyers to each particular client and matter because we think that benefits both our clients and our associates. We also believe that, to be equipped to deal with the complex legal issues that our clients face, lawyers must be exposed to a wide variety of matters, with maximum access to a diverse array of lawyers. Therefore, we hire associates who thrive on learning from a variety of approaches and styles, not just one. Further, we encourage our associates to develop a generalist background by working with many different lawyers at S&C on a variety of matters during the course of their careers.

Prior to their arrival at S&C, associates elect to work in one of four practice areas: General Practice/Corporate, Litigation, Tax, or Estates & 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.

Further, 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, all of which are of value throughout our associates’ careers.

Formal Training Programs

In addition to regular “on-the-job” training, S&C offers many 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 two-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 than we are able to offer in the orientation program. 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 offered by each of the four practice groups.

Mentoring

S&C’s formal mentoring program is focused on enhancing our associates’ career development. In keeping with S&C’s approach to our work, we customize our formal mentor programming to each associate, depending on his or her practice area, level of experience, and other interests. The program is designed to ensure that each associate gets the opportunity for personal interaction, real-time feedback, and guidance from partners and senior lawyers in their areas of interest.

Junior Associate Floor Advisor Program

This program provides first- and second-year associates in New York with easy access to “Floor Advisors,” who are mid-level and senior associates located in nearby offices. The Floor Advisors volunteer to help the junior associates become familiar with life at the Firm and are available to respond to “nuts and bolts” questions about office procedures and practice-related issues, among other matters. Floor Advisors also organize social events on their floors to introduce the junior associates to other lawyers and staff at S&C and build on the strong community feeling at the Firm.

Assignments

Associates in each practice group receive assignments from an Assigning Partner, who is assisted in most cases by an Associate Development Manager. Together, the Assigning Partner and Associate Development Manager monitor our associates’ workload and development to ensure that each associate is developing a broad range of skills at the earliest opportunity. They also make every effort to customize the distribution of assignments, based on the needs of each associate in their practice group and the practice of the Firm. When matching assignments, 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 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/Happenings

• For the last two years, the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Firm, Rodge Cohen and Joe Shenker, have conducted annual townhall meetings with our associates. During their townhalls, 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.
• This year, the Firm conducted extensive focus group sessions with associates of all seniority levels and in every practice group to get anonymous 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. Using this feedback as a benchmark, in early 2008, S&C formed a new Associate Experience Committee, composed of both partners and associates. The committee is charged with monitoring, assessing, and making recommendations on issues of significance to associates. Included among those issues are the Firm’s professional development initiatives, which the associates discussed during their focus groups. 
• S&C was awarded “one of the 20 coveted spots” on The American Lawyer’s 2008 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. In particular, the publication recognized S&C’s improved ranking in the 2007 Am Law mid-level associates survey, in which S&C placed fourth among New York City based firms. S&C’s ranking in the mid-level associate survey was attributed to high scores for partner relations, communication about partnership selection, and openness about strategy and finances.
• In the 2008 Am Law mid-level associates survey, S&C’s national ranking (28 out of 157, up from 48 in 2007) placed us 4th out of the 24 New York based firms that were ranked in the survey. The survey measures a number of factors including relations with partners and other associates, the interest and satisfaction level associates have in their work, training and guidance, management openness about firm strategies and partnership chances, the firm's attitude toward pro bono work, and compensation and benefits.