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Orientation
Each fall we run both an administrative first-week orientation and a lawyering orientation program for all new arrivals. The goals of the orientations are to introduce new associates to the firm and the private practice of law and to help them make a smooth transition to practicing law at Debevoise. Topics include the firm's culture, basic lawyering skills, ways to effectively use the firm's resources and support departments, legal ethics, and how to establish and maintain ethical and effective relationships with clients.
We believe that lawyers best develop their skills through a combination of on-the-job work experience and formal training. Therefore, we provide an array of in-house training programs for all our lawyers throughout the year. Introductory programs, primarily for new associates, provide a framework for understanding the legal, business, ethical, and practical issues and problems beginning lawyers are likely to encounter in their first years of practice. More advanced programs help lawyers of all levels keep abreast of developments in their areas of practice and continue to hone their skills.
Corporate Program
Corporate/Tax Training Week
Incoming corporate associates attend a full-time, one-week training program designed to introduce new corporate and tax lawyers to the practical aspects of our transactional practice. The daily sessions include lectures, hands-on exercises and workshops led by partners and other senior lawyers covering the drafting and negotiation of acquisition documents and the art of shepherding a transaction from initial negotiations through closing. After the initial training week, half-day training sessions are held regularly throughout the first year covering substantive legal topics and the skills required for corporate and tax practice at the firm.
Ongoing Corporate Training
Lawyers attend regularly scheduled departmental meetings, as well as the meetings of practice groups in which they are particularly interested. Many of our practice groups meet every other week. These meetings often have a CLE agenda, focusing on recent developments in the marketplace or the law and innovations in legal practice. The agendas are structured to encourage lawyers to develop both general background and technical expertise in their practice area.
Advanced Corporate Training Programs
Throughout the year the Corporate Department and individual practice groups conduct specialized advanced training programs designed to assist lawyers in refining skills and techniques that will enable them to develop and expand their practice. Representative topics include:
- Managing Complex Corporate Projects
- SEC Standards of Professional Conduct
- Counseling Clients on the Business Judgment Rule
- The Role of the Senior Associate in Corporate Transactions
- Representation of Financial Advisers
- Real Life Lessons in Corporate Governance
- An Opinions Refresher
Tax Program
In addition to attending the Corporate/Tax Training Week (click here for a description) for new arrivals, associates in both the general tax group and the executive compensation/employee benefits group attend regular departmental meetings, as well as training sessions designed to enhance their knowledge of substantive tax law and to improve their practice skills. The department also holds regularly scheduled training programs geared either to younger lawyers or to the department as a whole.
Litigation Program
Litigation Week for New Arrivals
New litigation associates attend an intensive week-long training program soon after their arrival. Litigation Week consists of participatory sessions conducted by partner instructors on pre-trial discovery and lawyer-client privilege, legal research and drafting pleadings, brief writing, internal investigations, and an introduction to corporate finance.
Litigation Skills Seminar
Each year the Litigation Department also runs a two-day seminar for second and third-year associates on litigation topics. These sessions are supplemented by extensive written materials, including outlines, training memoranda, model forms and sample documents. These materials are made available to all litigation associates when they arrive at the firm. Topics for the litigation skills seminar include:
- Putting together a case, including fact gathering, case analysis and strategy and drafting pleadings
- Oral argument of a Motion: Mock arguments by participants and partner demonstrations
- Discovery Devices and Discovery Disputes
- Ethics in the litigation practice
Advanced Litigation Seminars
In addition to the programs conducted for relatively junior lawyers, the Litigation Department presents a series of advanced seminars for more senior litigators. These sessions focus on particular litigation topics and emphasize practical and strategic issues.
Representative programs include:
- Techniques of Taking a Deposition
- Preparing Witnesses and Defending Depositions
- The Role of the Lead Associate on a Litigation Matter
- Drafting Winning Summary Judgment Motions and Other Dispositive Motions
- Settlement Strategy and the Mechanics of Settlement
- Advanced Issues Relating to the Attorney-Client Privilege
- How to Prepare for a Jury Trial
- Preparing and Conducting Effective Direct and Cross-Examination
Advanced programs throughout the firm
Advanced programs, geared to more senior lawyers, are conducted regularly by all departments and practice groups. In addition, we offer firm-wide programs on the fundamentals of negotiation; an introduction to financial statements, financial ratios, and company valuation; conflict resolution; presentation skills workshops and delegation and feedback workshops for mid-level and senior associates..
CLE programs
The firm has been certified by the New York State Continuing Legal Education Board as an Accredited Provider of continuing legal education programs for its lawyers in the State of New York. As a result, lawyers admitted to the New York bar can satisfy most, if not all, of their mandatory CLE requirements by attending in-house programs.
Associates are also encouraged to participate in outside CLE programs, notably those sponsored by the National Institute for Trial Advocacy, The Association of the Bar of the City of New York, the Practicing Law Institute and ALI-ABA, among others. The firm has a privileged membership with the Practicing Law Institute so that Debevoise lawyers can attend PLI programs in their areas of practice.
Evaluation and Feedback
Advisors
All associates are assigned an associate and a partner advisor when they arrive at the firm. For first-year associates, the primary advising relationship is with an associate advisor. Second- through fourth-year associates participate in a formal advising program with their partner advisor. This formal program includes an orientation session and regular individual and confidential meetings with the partner advisor where the agenda is set primarily by the associate.
After the fourth year, the firm expects that most associates will have formed one or more advising relationships - through the formal program and/or through work assignments - so that at this stage of associates' careers the advising they require can be more informal.
The firm monitors the formal advising relationships and, if necessary, changes advising assignments to ensure that associates have at least one active advising relationship available to them.
Support Technology
Debevoise provides all of its lawyers with state-of-the-art computer hardware. Lawyers in all offices worldwide are connected through a wide-area network. They also have desktop access to fax transmissions, the firm's Intranet, certain clients' Extranets and to the Internet through dedicated T-1 and fractional T-3 lines. Software support includes e-mail, MS Word word processing, Excel spreadsheet and Power Point presentation applications and a variety of online database research tools (Lexis, Westlaw, and assorted CD-ROM databases). Remote access software and related technical support enable lawyers to reach the firm's central network from home or while traveling. Debevoise offers all lawyers a technology budget which can be used to buy a personal laptop. The firm also maintains a large pool of lightweight notebook PCs for travel and other remote uses.
Experiencing other Debevoise Locations
We encourage our associates to consider a posting - generally for two to three years - to another Debevoise office at some point in their careers. In addition, associates based in New York often have the opportunity to spend shorter periods of time at an office abroad - typically two to four months - to work on particular projects or to be seconded to non-U.S. law firms or clients with whom we have long-standing relationships. As we grow globally, these opportunities for our associates to experience different Debevoise offices are increasingly important to our ability to operate as a single firm and maintain an integrated approach to practicing law.
Career path
Partnership Consideration
An associate is generally considered for partnership approximately eight years after graduation from law school. Each associate's candidacy is first discussed by the department within which the associate has worked, and then may be considered by the full partnership. Partnership decisions are made only after a series of meetings at which the candidates are considered in depth by the full partnership.
Counsel Program
A number of senior associates have been promoted to Counsel or International Counsel status. There are currently 40 senior lawyers in our counsel program.
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"Debevoise has an excellent mentoring and training system. Many people -- including partners -- spend a substantial amount of time and thought to analyze our careers as they develop, in an effort to help us maximize our potential."
Associate, Class of 2000
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