How To Create A Preeminent Attorney Development Program

Developing the Next Generation of Rainmakers How to Create a Preeminent Attorney Development Program I was interviewed recently using Google + Chat. That was a first for me. I was asked why I left a lucrative and enjoyable law practice to work full time coaching, teaching and helping younger lawyers. The interviewer told me his readers would find that crazy on my part. I told him my former partners could not understand why I would make the change. One partner said I was “retiring.” Finally, I told him I loved working with lawyers striving to get better and striving to build a preeminent law firm. Is your law firm striving to be a preeminent firm? If so, you must create a preeminent attorney development program. But, that is challenging. Are your partners and associates behind your attorney development program, or do the partners undermine it and associates blow it off? Are your firm leaders promoting attorney development or putting it on the back burner? As a firm leader if you want to increase the odds of getting the lawyers in your firm behind your Attorney Development program, you must take the lead. You should articulate: Here are my ideas to get you started. This is what I hoped to be the purpose, vision and core values of the attorney development program at my old firm. Our Firm Attorney Development Program Purpose The purpose of our Attorney Development Program is to enable our attorneys to better serve our clients, to increase our realization and to provide opportunities for greater achievement and career satisfaction. Vision Our firm seeks to have an Attorney Development program recognized as preeminent by our clients, our lawyers and law students. Core Values I have to be honest with you. I did not have enough support from our firm leaders to make my purpose, vision and core values a reality in my firm. Do you have the support in your firm? You will have more fun and success helping other people achieve their goals than you will trying to reach your own goals.Dale Carnegie I practiced law for 37 years developing a national construction law practice representing some of the top highway and transportation construction contractors in the US.