In today’s demanding legal environment, it is increasingly difficult to provide the next generation of lawyers with the trial techniques and skills needed to lead tomorrow’s complex cases. It is important for legal employers to provide robust training from the outset of an attorney’s career to ensure that a firm’s institutional knowledge is maintained, that “best practices” are sustained and updated, and that the firm’s greatest resource its people are ready to service clients at the highest levels.
There are essential techniques that are best inculcated in young lawyers at the beginning of their careers, then maintained and tested throughout. An effective training program should emphasize written advocacy, oral advocacy, legal best practices and hands-on experience through pro bono programs. When the smarts and diversity of today’s young lawyers are combined with a firm’s resources and opportunities, they emerge as first-rate trial lawyers for the next generation and win with clients, judges and juries.
