Archives 2007

Smaller Firms Are Finding Ways to Get Started in China

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Sponsor Link: DaCare Legal Search (China)
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While some of Philadelphia’s largest firms are still looking for ways to navigate the onerous path to entering the Chinese legal market, two smaller firms have quietly found their place in the booming economy thousands of miles away.

White & Williams has had a China business practice group since 2003 and has had an informal alliance with the Chinese-based Xue Law Firm since the summer of 2006.

The two firms made official last month a strategic alliance, which White & Williams said it hopes will facilitate its existing work in the region and create opportunities for representation of Chinese companies.

“We have been assisting our U.S.-based clients with their China operations, and the Shanghai alliance will provide us with a vehicle to serve Chinese companies looking to the U.S,” firm Chairman George J. Hartnett said in a statement. “We believe the Shanghai alliance will make the Chinese market a two-way street for us — we and the Xue Law Firm can help companies coming and going.”

Beyond the alliance option, one local firm is looking to be on the ground in China.

Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff, which expanded beyond its Ohio roots for the first time last month with the addition of Philadelphia and Wilmington, Del., offices, will have one of its attorneys in China in a few months. The firm received its license from the Chinese Ministry of Justice on Feb. 7, and is now set to open a Shanghai law office.

Partner Yanping Wang will serve as chief representative in the office and will move to Shanghai this summer, firm Managing Partner James M. Hill said.

Wang practices in the firm’s corporate and securities practice group and is admitted to practice in both the United States and China. Her practice focuses on assisting clients who are entering the Chinese market through mergers, joint ventures and strategic alliances.

Hill said the firm started a subsidiary, Benesch Pacific, about two and half years ago to help clients with business needs in China. He said it was staffed by one person with a master’s in business administration who handled nonlegal needs.

The firm began its application process for a license to practice in China about a year later, and Hill said it was tedious but not problematic.

Benesch Friedlander saw a gap in the market, and Hill said the firm thought it would be able to service its clients from Chicago to the East Coast through a Chinese office.

Most companies, regardless of size, are forced to use the largest of law firms when doing work in China, he said.

“You’re not really important to them as a $350 million manufacturing company,” he said.

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Sponsor Link: DaCare Legal Search (China)
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Despite how the manufacturing industry may be portrayed in the media, Hill said the industry becomes a larger part of the gross domestic product each year and those are the types of companies that abound in the Midwest.

Several of the firm’s clients, such as the Eton Corp., have become globalized over the years, he said.

“We saw there was a big opportunity there,” Hill said, adding that the firm’s typical clients range from $50 million to $1 billion companies.

White & Williams’ interest in the Chinese market started when partner Gary P. Biehn had a client who was looking to complete a joint venture there in 2003. The firm started to see a larger interest in the market from its existing regional and Pennsylvania-based clients, he said.

Many middle-market companies have larger customers who are working in China or are seeing their competitors move in that direction, Biehn said.

White & Williams is also representing Chinese companies who are involved with business and litigation matters in the United States, he said.

There are currently four attorneys within the firm who are dedicated to the China business practice. Biehn, associates Chunsheng Lu and Robert C. Maier and immigration group leader Robert C. Seiger III.

Thomas S. Clay of consulting firm Altman Weil said it would be unusual to find many firms the same size as White & Williams or Benesch Friedlander that had any sort of presence in China.

There are several firms with clients who have business opportunities in the country, but Clay said he applauds any who are even thinking about entering the market in some way.

Smaller firms need even more of a strategic reason to enter a new market than do larger firms, consultant Joel A. Rose said.

“Unless they had an opportunity to do work [within China], I cannot believe that they would just build the stadium and they will come,” Rose said of White & Williams and Benesch Friedlander’s decisions to enter the Chinese market.

When opening an office in a market like China, Clay said firms need to be sure they will “have enough oomph” with just one or two attorneys on the ground. In an alliance situation, he said firms have to work at making it successful and not just mention it on their Web sites.

White & Williams sent one of its associates, Chinese native Lu, to spend 10 weeks at the Xue Law Firm over the summer of 2006. Lu is a member of the Chinese National Bar and the Pennsylvania bar. Hartnett said Lu would spend part of his time working in the Xue firm.

According to the consultants who spoke to The Legal Intelligencer, the biggest concern for smaller firms entering China is whether the work is available.

“There’s been probably more money lost in London than you can shake a stick at” by U.S. firms who figured they would open an office and hope the work follows, Clay said.

The Chinese market is even more difficult, and firms need to be sure they will have work to do before opening an office there, he said.

While the market has traditionally seen firms from the West Coast or with particularly strong Washington, D.C., offices looking to enter China, Sandra Mannix of Abelson Legal Search said there are a few reasons why China might make sense for White & Williams.

The firm’s insurance defense work could mean it has clients who have coverage needs in China. And just by virtue of being an old, Philadelphia firm, White & Williams may have had clients who evolved into national or international companies with needs around the world, she said.

White & Williams’ alliance formed out of a relationship Lu had with the Xue Law Firm and has been almost five years in the making, Biehn said.

“Like anything in China, you have to do your research, be patient,” he said.

Hill said it would be helpful for the firm to have Wang in China because she can help recruit other attorneys. He said he hopes to build the office to about 10 or 15 attorneys.

Wang has family members in China who are in prominent political positions. In a country that is heavily based on relationships, Hill said that could help grow the firm’s contacts in the area.

The influx of Chinese companies interested in business opportunities in the United States has also increased in just the last year, he said.

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Sponsor Link: DaCare Legal Search (China)
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“Making Partner,” or Things To Do While Waiting for the Dream Job and the Dream Practice!

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Sponsor Link: DaCare Legal Search (China)
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As I sit before my computer monitor writing this short article, the window for my document is minimized so as to maximize my view of my desktop background—a view of our beloved, blue planet from two hundred miles above its surface. The stunning vista of creamy, white-blue clouds and indigo sea against a black, starless sky reminds me of the amazing richness of opportunities constantly before us卆nd of our regrettable inability to take advantage of all of them. Fortunately, leading full and joyful lives does not require that we take advantage of all opportunities but, rather, that we carefully choose the precious few possibilities that we can and will pursue. What a difference it will make in your law career if you seize those few opportunities and take full advantage of the doors they open!

No Such Thing as “Making Partner”

Candidates ask me all the time, “Which firms are making partners now?” I always respond, “None of them!” The dead silence is usually followed by nervous laughter. “No, really,” candidates say. “I know it seems like that, but where are associates really making partners?”

At this juncture, I usually let them in on a little secret: things have changed in the practice of law since the 1950s. Here’s the bottom line: there are no more firms where associates simply “make partner.” Instead, associates grow up, get clients, create practices, and only then are awarded partnership status.

What this means is that attorneys must know how to create thriving practices while maintaining heavy workloads, and most firms cannot or will not expend resources to teach lawyers how to do this. They are on their own. Well, almost.

Here are some pointers that will help you develop the personal and professional clout you will need to build your own book of business.

Start Building Partner Skills Now

Associates who are ultimately invited to join their firms’ partnerships are not created equally, yet there are several “types” of attorneys who possess skills that increase their likelihood of making partner. I once sat in on a lecture given by the chairman of a prominent law firm, in which he discussed three types of partnership-bound associates.

First, there is the “rainmaker” who spends all (or most) of his or her time networking, having lunches, meeting people, and bringing in business. Second, the “service partner” adds value to a firm by providing niche expertise in a specialized area of the law, thus meeting the needs of sophisticated clients in ways that a partner with general legal skills cannot. Finally, the “hybrid” brings good leadership skills, strong connections to the firm and within the local community, and the ability to supervise projects and associates with aplomb.

While I respect these distinctions, I see things a little more simply. The only kind of person who can make and remain a partner is a person who has developed and continues to nurture a large, quality network of friends, colleagues, experts, and clients with whom he or she is involved on a professional level. This means that a potential partner must be able to call upon the people within his or her network to meet the needs of existing clients, to refer and generate new clients, and to keep abreast of developments in his or her industry.

No matter what level of practice you may now enjoy, the levels of ability and interest you exhibit in maintaining such a network may well mean the difference between professional and remunerative success or failure.

The Core Competency of a Partner

The ability to develop successful professional relationships is one of the core competencies of a partner. Almost anyone can practice law, but only a few develop law practices. I always try to emphasize to younger lawyers that it is never too early to start the process of building a network of strong relationships. The fundamental difference between a partner and any other lawyer is leadership ability. Partners lead. That means that partners assume responsibilities, delegate tasks, and are accountable for meeting the needs of their clients. These leadership traits are not innate; they must be learned, and to be learned, they must be practiced.

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Sponsor Link: DaCare Legal Search (China)
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The only way to become a leader is to practice leadership in a thousand small ways. Sets of small acts tend to grow, of their own accord, into larger sets of responsibilities that eventually can develop into leadership over an entire case, with a large client, or in a 3,000-member law firm.

Furthermore, leadership does not begin with a “lucky break,” such as when, for instance, the senior associate on a matter calls in sick and you are named the lead attorney卭r when the lead partner suddenly realizes that you are brilliant卭r even if a client suddenly prefers that you take the reins. Rather, leadership begins with relationship management. In essence, every legal task can be broken down into a series of relationships that need managing. For example, an attorney must exhibit leadership in order to assign the appropriate people within a law firm to answer interrogatories, to find critical documents, to communicate key information about deals to clients, or to manage support staff and other associates in preparing filings or coordinating nationwide document collections and reviews.

Thus, to build the confidence, credibility, and leadership skills necessary to fulfill these responsibilities, attorneys must begin by cultivating as many meaningful relationships as possible. To do this, they must actually meet people.

Get Out There, Meet People, and Make Friends

Networking is just a fancy way of describing the process of intentionally making friends. Every lawyer in the country should be a member of at least three organizations and should contribute to each of them. It is often the case that the most effective, highest-functioning attorneys are those who are members of scores of organizations that they have joined over the courses of their careers.

For starters, however, any professional—and every lawyer—should join one organization within each of the following genres: professional, service-oriented, and fraternal or social. At the most basic level, every lawyer should be closely involved with some sort of professional organization of lawyers dedicated to furthering the practice of law. This might be a subcommittee within a state bar association, the American Bar Association, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, or even your local Barristers Club. There is no substitute for meeting and interacting with new lawyers in settings devoted to their respective practices. Successful lawyers have hundreds of colleagues who are essentially professional acquaintances with whom they have developed familiarity. Although meeting people and getting to know colleagues is incredibly easy to do, many lawyers dread it. It doesn’t have to be painful. Go out and meet someone new today!

For the Socially Challenged: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Your Network

Here is a step-by-step primer for developing a network of professional colleagues that even a partner would envy:

Join the “[fill in the blank]” club.

Actually go to a meeting.

Say, “Hello, how are you?” to five people. Be brave. Try to initiate some small talk. (For example, ask questions such as “Where do you practice?” or “What is your most interesting case right now?”)

Give a business card to each person you talk to. Ask for a business card from each of them, or write their names and phone numbers down on one of your own cards and hang on to it!

Once you get home or back to the office, enter their names in your Outlook folder (or some other location), and set up a reminder to call each person back in one week to follow up and say how much you enjoyed meeting him or her.

Actually call each person back.

Make it a practice to call each person on your list of contacts once every three months.

Follow where this leads you.

There. That wasn’t so hard! These are simple but invaluable steps. Every lawyer has some basic social skills, or he or she would not have survived the first year of legal practice. Begin naturally—but begin—and see where these proto-relationships take you. The point is that, just like in sales, there are only so many solid opportunities per “X” number of contacts. The only way to “get lucky” is to make sure that you make lots of attempts to build and maintain your personal network. Not every person is going to become a client, but the greater the number of personal contacts you maintain, the greater the resulting synergy between their accumulated sums of interactions, relationships, and experiences and your own.

Bringing It All Together

Once you have started down the path of generating a network of diverse professionals, you will be surprised at how it starts to take on a life of its own. Telling one colleague about an amusing vignette may lead him or her to do a small favor for you, such as sending over a client as a referral. Over time, that client or that colleague may lead you to significant business opportunities. All the while, you should be continuing to grow these and other relationships.

The key point to remember is that becoming a responsible leader depends on your ability to manage relationships. In every interaction, follow through with whatever you promise to do. If you offer to provide a reference, provide it! If you agree to get the name of someone who can serve as an expert, do it—and promptly! Demonstrating this kind of courtesy builds reputations and relationships—one small, solid step at a time. I absolutely guarantee that if you follow these practices, you will eventually succeed. You don’t have to be perfect all the time. You just need to be reasonably careful, reasonably reliable, and reasonably friendly, and you will be ahead of the majority of the pack.

Conclusion

The world is full of opportunities, but we cannot take advantage of them all; we can only capitalize on a few. To the extent that you can internalize this powerful principle, you will find that the world—and, in particular, your own practice—is as full of opportunities as a path strewn with gems. The key is to determine which gems to pick up, carry, and ultimately safeguard卋ecause you cannot take them all. If you follow this path, you may find that your biggest challenges lie not in finding opportunities, but in having sufficiently large pockets!

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Sponsor Link: DaCare Legal Search (China)
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by Peter L. Smith, Esq.

MMLC takes on Chinese legal expert

MMLC Group has appointed Chinese lawyer Judith Crosbie-Chen as a director. She will divide her time between the group’s Beijing and Hong Kong offices. Her practice in the group mainly focuses on corporate social responsibility and compliance, employment and IP issues.

Immediately prior to joining MMLC group, Judith Crosbie-Chen was the associate Asia Pacific general counsel for Gap Inc. Before that, she had been the Head of MacDonalds Corporation’s Greater China legal department for nearly eight years.

“Judith brings to the MMLC Group a unique combination of extensive experience within the in-house legal departments of two of the most famous brands in the world – MacDonalds and the Gap – as well as strong credentials in the PRC law practice area,” says Matthew Murphy, managing partner at MMLC group.

Those credentials include her appointment in 1992 as the first chief representative of one of the first batch of foreign law firms authorised by the PRC Ministry of Justice to set up an office in Beijing. In addition, her interest in Corporate Social Responsibility and Compliance matters will allow the MMLC Group to rapidly develop a first-class reputation in both of those practice areas.

MMLC is an international corporate advisory group, focusing on M&A, IP, tax and, more recently, CSR and compliance issues for many multinational companies and governments. Currently, the group has over 30 professionals based in Greater China and Australia.

Working Glossary of Legal Recruitment and Career Services Terms and Jargon

Professional jargon abounds in the field of legal recruitment and law school career services. This glossary is designed to help those who are new to the plethora of acronyms and specialized terms.

Although somewhat inclusive, this brief glossary cannot feature every legal recruitment term or every law-related organization. You are invited to submit suggest new terms for inclusion.

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AALS – Association of American Law Schools. An organization of law schools whose purpose is the improvement of the legal profession through legal education. This association serves as the law teachers’ learned society and produces a monthly newsletter of teaching and administrative positions available at law schools nationwide.

AALSA/APALSA – Asian American Law Student Association/Asian Pacific American Law Student Association.

ABA – American Bar Association. Headquartered in Chicago, the ABA offers educational programs, publications, and services relating to all facets of the practice of law. www.abanet.org

ACC – Association of Corporate Counsel. www.acca.com

ACCESS GROUP – A non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that students have access to affordable funding for their education.

ADA – Americans with Disabilities Act.

ADJUNCT PROFESSOR – A part-time faculty member who is generally a practitioner.

ADR – Alternative Dispute Resolution. Methods other than going to court to solve problems among people, including counseling, mediation and arbitration.

AILTO – American Institute for Law Training within the Office.

ALA – Association of Legal Administrators. www.alanet.org

ALI-ABA – American Law Institute – American Bar Association, a nonprofit endeavor providing continuing professional education for lawyers. www.ali-aba.org

ALTERNATIVE CAREERS/LAW-RELATED CAREERS – Law-related and/or non-legal career opportunities for J.D. graduates other than the practice of law.

ANNUAL EDUCATION CONFERENCE – NALP’s annual conference, which offers a wide array of programming and includes the NALP annual business meeting.

ASSOCIATE – A lawyer who is an employee, as opposed to an owner, of a law firm. (See also Partner.)

BAR EXAM – The licensing examination required to become a member of the bar. While individuals may earn a J.D. degree, they may not practice law until they have passed a state’s bar examination. Most states offer the bar exam twice a year, in February and July.

BILLABLE HOURS – The time lawyers work on a project for a client that can be charged to the client. Most employers require an established number of billable hours per lawyer (e.g., 35 billable hours a week). The number of billable hours required is a major area of concern and inquiry for both students and practicing lawyers.

BLIND AD – A job posting in which the employer is not named. Interested applicants forward resumes to post office boxes and are therefore unable to contact the employer directly.

BLSA – Black Law Students Association.

BOOK AWARDS – In some schools, when students earn the highest grade in a particular class it is said they booked the course. Often schools or outside organizations provide awards to students who earn this distinction.

BRANCH OFFICES – Additional office locations beyond the law firm’s traditional “home” office.

BUCKLEY AMENDMENT – The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA), which guarantees that students have the right of access to inspect and review any and all official records, files, documents, and other materials created during the period the individual was enrolled as a student at the institution. With limited exceptions, no personally identifiable information from the educational records of a student may be disclosed to any third party by an official or employee of the institution without the written consent of the student.

CALLBACK/FLYBACK – The in-depth interview students have in an employer’s office, generally after a preliminary screening interview with the employer.

CEC – An acronym for the Continuing Education Curriculum, a curriculum of courses developed by the NALP Educational Programming Committee to provide foundation, intermediate, and advanced levels of training for legal recruitment, personnel, and career services professionals. Each Annual Education Conference offers a selection of CEC courses, as well as a wide range of additional seminars. Conference brochures provide information on the Continuing Education Curriculum and identify CEC courses with a special symbol.

CHAIRED FACULTY – Faculty members whose salaries are supplemented by private endowments to the institution where they work. Individuals holding chaired positions are generally regarded as specialists in the areas in which they teach.

CITY GROUP – An association of local recruitment administrators (and sometimes career services personnel) in a particular city. City groups enjoy a cooperative relationship with NALP, although they are not formally affiliated with NALP.

CLASS RANK – Class rank reflects an individual’s academic performance as compared to his/her classmates. Some schools have chosen not to rank their students.

CLE – Continuing Legal Education. Additional education that lawyers take to stay abreast of current changes in the law. In some states, CLE courses are mandatory, especially if lawyers wish to designate themselves as specialists in particular areas of law.

CLEO – Council on Legal Education Opportunity. A program aimed at helping and encouraging economically and educationally disadvantaged students to enter law school and become members of the legal profession.

CLINICAL EDUCATION – Law school programs that provide students with practical and skills-oriented instruction. Under the supervision of a faculty member, students represent clients through specialized legal aid, prosecutorial, and defender clinics.

CODE OF PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY – The ethical guidelines for lawyers in conducting their professional activities. A Model Code sets forth basic standards, but guidelines are promulgated by each state and may vary from the Model Code.

CONSORTIUM – A consortium consists of several law schools (often in one geographic region) that work cooperatively in such areas as cosponsorship of off-campus career fairs.

CONTRACT ATTORNEY/TEMPORARY ATTORNEY – Attorney hired for a specific project or for a finite period of time.

COST SHARING – In legal recruitment, the practice of employers sharing interview expenses for out-of-town interviewees.

DING LETTER/FLUSH LETTER – Slang for an employment rejection letter.

DIRECT CONTACT/RESUMES FORWARDED – Two services most career services offices make available to employers. Direct Contact indicates that students must send their own letter to the employer in response to a posted position. Resumes Forwarded indicates that the career services office collects resumes from interested students for an available position and mails them collectively to an employer on a pre-determined date.

DOG & PONY SHOW – Slang for recruiting trips during which law school career planning personnel promote their institutions to employers or employers promote their organizations to law schools.

EEOC – Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The EEOC was established to work toward elimination of discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or disability status in hiring, promoting, firing, wages, testing, training, apprenticeship, and all other conditions of employment.

EJW – Equal Justice Works (formerly NAPIL, National Association for Public Interest Law). An organization that works with student groups across the country to promote public service law through loan forgiveness programs, fellowships, educational programs, and an annual career fair. www.equaljusticeworks.org

ERSS – Employment Report and Salary Survey. The annual process that collects student employment data from law schools and provides aggregate information on salaries and types of employment obtained by graduates each year, published annually as NALP’s Jobs & J.D.’s report.

FEDERAL AGENCY HONOR PROGRAM – A program sponsored by a federal agency e.g., Justice or Treasury Department for law students who meet specific academic standards or co-curricular activities. The Honor Program is often the only entry to the agency directly from law school.

FEEDER SCHOOLS – A term referring to schools at which a legal employer tends to recruit heavily and employ a large number of graduates. Also refers to undergraduate schools from which law schools enroll a large number of students.

FELLOWSHIP – A program that matches law graduates with public service organizations or with law school programs. Fellowships are variously funded and very competitive and are usually for a prescribed number of years following graduation.

FIRM RESUME – An informational brochure that employers provide to career services offices to acquaint law students with the employer’s business, recruiting plans, summer clerk and associate programs, and so on.

GOING RATE – The starting lawyer and summer clerk salary for any given city or market area.

HEADHUNTER/LEGAL SEARCH CONSULTANT – An individual associated with a private placement agency, i.e., an individual who assists with the matching of a potential employee with an employer and who receives as a fee a percentage of the employee’s starting salary.

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Sponsor Link: DaCare Legal Search (China)
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HIRING COMMITTEE – A committee of lawyers that oversees the recruiting program and makes hiring decisions.

HIRING ATTORNEY/HIRING PARTNER – The attorney/partner who is chair of a legal employer’s Hiring Committee.

HISPANIC NATIONAL BAR ASSOCIATION – A national association of Hispanic attorneys. www.hnba.com

HLSA – Hispanic Law Students Association.

HOLD LETTER – Letter indicating to the student recipient that he/she is still under consideration for an offer.

IF YOU ARE IN TOWN… LETTER – A fairly standard response to students who have written directly to out-of-town employers. The sense of the letter is that the firm is not willing to pay for the student’s travel expenses but, if the student will be in town, the employer will grant an interview.

IN-HOUSE COUNSEL – This term refers to a lawyer who works for a business as the company lawyer. Generally, large corporations have sizeable legal departments and often will use outside counsel (e.g., law firms) for litigation or specialty work.

JAGC – Judge Advocate General’s Corps. The in-house counsel of the various armed forces.

J.D./JURIS DOCTOR – Degree awarded after three years of prescribed study in a U.S. law school.

JOB FAIR/CAREER FAIR – An off-campus interview program usually sponsored by several law schools to bring together students and employers in one centralized setting. Job fairs may appeal to employers and market students in specialty areas of practice e.g., intellectual property or may be designed to assist employers interested specifically in hiring minority students.

JOINT DEGREE PROGRAMS – A dual degree program leading to a J.D. degree in conjunction with another advanced degree e.g., M.B.A., Masters in Accounting., Ph.D., Masters in Public Health, etc.

JUDICIAL CLERK – A graduate who is employed by a judge to assist with research, writing, and review of opinions and orders, usually for a one- or two-year period. The level of prestige of the clerkship is often commensurate with the level of the court.

LL.B. – Bachelor of Laws Degree. Equivalent to a J.D. degree, the LL.B. was the law degree conferred prior to establishment of the J.D.

LL.M. – Master of Laws Degree. An advanced degree beyond the J.D., often concentrated in a specialty area e.g., taxation, banking, etc.

LALSA – The Latin American Law Students Association.

LATERAL HIRE – An experienced lawyer who has been hired by a new employer, often at the same seniority level as in his/her prior position.

LAW REVIEW/LAW JOURNAL – A legal periodical published by law students presenting the results of research, analysis, and scholarly investigation of legal problems. Articles are written by law professors, practitioners, or established authorities from other fields, and notes and comments on recent judicial decisions are prepared by student members. Membership on some law reviews is limited to students who have demonstrated outstanding scholastic ability through grades or writing competitions; some journals are open to all interested students.

LAW STUDENTS 1L, 2L, 3L, 4L – These terms refer to first-year, second-year, third-year and fourth-year (part-time) law students, respectively.

LAWYERING PROCESS – A trend in law schools to provide students with instruction in better lawyering and alternative dispute resolution, e.g., interviewing, counseling, and negotiations.

LEGAL MARKETING ASSOCIATION – (LMA) formerly the National Law Firm Marketing Association.

LexisNexis – Online databases of cases, statutes, regulations, newspapers, journals, business magazines, and other materials used by lawyers in doing legal and non-legal research.

L.L.P. – Limited liability partnership. A legal organizational structure in which the liability of partners for the malpractice of another partner is limited.

LOAN REPAYMENT ASSISTANCE PROGRAM/LRAP – Law school financial aid programs providing for the reduction or forgiveness of law school debts in return for work with public service organizations for a set period of time after graduation.

LOTTERY – Resume selection process whereby students are selected at random for interviews as an alternative to prescreening.

LSAC – Law School Admission Council. This organization is best known for its administration of the LSAT, but it also provides other resources for pre-law and law students and carries out research on topics such as law student debt loads. www.lsac.org

LSAT – Law School Admission Test, a prerequisite for admission to most law schools.

MacCRATE REPORT – A major study published in July 1992 by the ABA Task Force on Law Schools and the Profession: Narrowing the Gap (referred to as the MacCrate Report because the Task Force was chaired by Robert MacCrate). This report on the status of legal education focuses on the preparation of law students for the practice of law.

MARTINDALE-HUBBELL – A multi-volume directory (and database on-line on LEXIS ) of private law firms and in-house counsel for corporations that lists lawyers, biographical information, areas of practice, and representative clients.

MASS MAILING – A method of job hunting by which students send numerous employers the same letter. Students are may do mass mailings by e-mail, but, whether via conventional or electronic mail, mass mailings are generally not targeted carefully enough to achieve positive results.

MENTOR – A lawyer who assumes responsibility for teaching and guidance of a new lawyer or summer associate.

MOOT COURT – A co-curricular activity for students interested in the principles of written and oral advocacy. Students represent either the plaintiff or defendant in writing briefs and presenting oral arguments in a mock trial setting.

MORAL FITNESS – Prior to being permitted to sit for a state’s bar exam, the state’s Board of Bar Examiners attempts to ascertain the moral fitness of a bar candidate by doing extensive research into the individual’s past.

MPRE – Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam, required in many states to practice law.

MULTISTATE BAR EXAM – (MBE) An exam required by many states for admission to the bar that tests federal law as it applies to all states.

NACE – National Association of Colleges and Employers (formerly the College Placement Council).www.naceweb.org

NALP – Founded in 1971, NALP is an organization of law schools and legal employers committed to the development and advancement of fair, effective, and efficient career services and recruitment practices. NALP works toward this goal by providing educational programs and materials to those involved in legal career services and recruitment and by establishing and maintaining standards.

NALP BULLETIN – A monthly newsletter from NALP providing informative articles, book reviews, and professional news.

NALP FORM – A questionnaire developed by NALP member organizations and used to collect information about a legal employer’s business and recruiting practices. The questionnaires are used by law schools to standardize the collection of employer information. Employers may also choose to have their NALP Forms published in the annual NALP Directory of Legal Employers, which is available in print and on-line at www.nalpdirectory.com.

NALP TIMING GUIDELINES – Guidelines by which students should respond to offers of employment as prescribed in Part V of the NALP Principles and Standards.

NALSA – Native American Law Students Association.

NALSC – National Association of Legal Search Consultants. www.nalsc.org

NAPABA – National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, a national association for Asian/Pacific American attorneys. www.napaba.org

NATIONAL BAR ASSOCIATION – A national association for African-American attorneys. www.nationalbar.org

NATIVE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION – A national association for Native American attorneys. www.nativeamericanbar.org

NETWORKING – The art of cultivating and developing contacts for the purpose of finding jobs.

NLGLA – National Lesbian and Gay Law Association. www.nlgla.org

OCI – On-campus interviewing scheduled by an employer through the career services office at a school with students at the school. (See also On-Campus Interviews.)

OF COUNSEL – A lawyer who is not a partner of a firm but who has a formal relationship with the firm. For example, the term may be used for a senior partner of a law firm who has gone into semi-retirement or a lateral hire who may be in line for partnership after a prescribed amount of time with the firm. (See also Partner and Associate).

OFF-CAMPUS INTERVIEW PROGRAM A recruitment program in which students pay their own travel and lodging expenses to participate in employment interviews arranged in a different city by their career services office.

ON-CAMPUS INTERVIEWS/OCI – Typically, large law firms, corporations, and government agencies who recruit a year in advance for their hiring needs visit law school campuses during August through December to conduct employment interviews with law students for summer and full-time associate positions.

ORDER OF THE COIF A national legal honor society, similar to Phi Beta Kappa for undergraduate institutions, in which membership is limited to the academic top 10% of each graduating class.

OUTPLACEMENT – Career and job search counseling provided to lawyers who are leaving a firm.

OVERSUBSCRIPTION/OVERFLOW RESUMES – Students who were unable to secure an on-campus or job fair interview with an employer and whose resumes are still provided to the employer on an overflow basis.

PARALEGAL/LEGAL ASSISTANT – An individual who has received either formal academic training or on-the-job training to assist lawyers with certain aspects of law practice. The responsibilities of paralegals vary from employer to employer.

PART V – The section of NALP’s Principles and Standards that offers guidelines for the timing of offers and responses in law student recruitment.

PARTNER – A lawyer who has become an owner of the firm and is paid a percentage of the firm’s profits that reflects the lawyer’s contribution to the firm. Sometimes called a shareholder or equity member of the firm. (See also Associate and Permanent Associate.)

P.C./P.A. – Professional Corporation/Professional Association. A tax arrangement allowing partnerships to enjoy corporate benefits while retaining the other attributes of a partnership.

PDI – Annual Professional Development Institute sponsored by NALP and ALI-ABA.

PERMANENT ASSOCIATE/NON-EQUITY PARTNER – A lawyer who is not considered on track for equity partnership but fulfills a specialty niche in the firm’s practice.

PIGGYBACKING – Slang for a student building upon one out-of-town interview so that the trip results in several interviews for the student.

PLACEMENT COMMITTEE – A committee of faculty and students who serve as a resource pool for placement ideas and a sounding board for career services policy.

POUNDING THE PAVEMENT/DOOR KNOCKING – A job search method by which students call upon potential employers without previously arranging for an interview.

PRESCREENING – A procedure by which employers are permitted to review students’ resumes prior to on-campus interviews and select the students they desire to interview.

PRINCIPLES AND STANDARDS – NALP’s ethical guidelines for law schools, legal employers, and students regarding the law placement and recruiting process.

PRO BONO/PRO PUBLICO PRACTICE – Literally, for the public good, refers to time donated at no charge by lawyers in the community interest, including representation of the poor, charitable organizations, not-for-profit organizations, and other groups whose purposes are for the good of the general public.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT CONSORTIUM – (PDC)

PROFIT CENTERS – Refers to those departments in a law firm that tend to produce the most business and, thus, generate the most revenue for the firm.

PSLawNet – NALP’s Public Service Law Network. www.pslawnet.org

RAINMAKER – A lawyer who brings in a great deal of business for his/her firm.

RECIPROCITY – Agreements among law schools allowing students and/or graduates to use the career services offices at other schools. NALP periodically publishes a compilation of law school reciprocity policies.

SOLOMON AMENDMENT – Legislation that denies U.S. government funding to colleges and universities that bar ROTC or military recruitment access.

SPECTATOR ASSIGNMENTS – Activities designed for summer law clerks that allow them to observe the firm’s lawyers in action e.g., sitting in on a closing, observing a litigator in court, etc.

SPLIT SUMMER – A summer in which a law clerk works for more than one employer.

STANDARD 511 – An accrediting standard of the ABA which states: “A law school shall provide all its students, regardless of enrollment or scheduling option, with basic student services, including maintenance of accurate student records, academic advising and counseling, financial aid counseling, and an active career counseling service to assist students in making sound career choices and obtaining employment. If a law school does not provide these types of student services directly, it must demonstrate that its students have reasonable access to such services from the university of which it is a part or from other sources.”

STUDENT BAR ASSOCIATION – (SBA) Student governing body of a law school.

SUMMER ASSOCIATES/SUMMER CLERKS – Law students employed as law clerks during the summer.

SWEAT SHOP – A law firm with the reputation for having its lawyers work long hours.

UP OR OUT POLICY – Refers to a philosophy within many law firms whereby a lawyer either is made a partner after a stipulated associate period or leaves the firm.

WESTLAW – Thomson West’s electronic databases of cases, statutes, regulations, newspapers, journals, business magazines and other materials used by lawyers in doing legal and non-legal research. WESTLAW includes the West Legal Directory (a database of attorneys throughout the country) and other databases which are useful to students in searching for possible employers and to career services and recruitment professionals.

WRITE-IN APPLICATIONS – Unsolicited letter and resume applications.

WRITE-OFFS – Billable client time that is subsequently not charged to a client.

WRITING SAMPLE – A piece of legal writing submitted to an employer by an applicant to demonstrate legal writing skills.

VISITING PROFESSOR A faculty member who is on leave of absence from his/her institution so that he/she may teach at a different law school.

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Source: nalp

School in China to Bear U.S. Law Firm’s Name

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Paul Hastings is first foreign law firm to take part in project that offers a unique mix of pro bono and branding efforts

Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker is putting its stamp on China. Literally.

The firm is paying at least $40,000 toward the construction of a facility in China’s remote Longqui village that will soon bear its name: the Paul Hastings Hope Elementary School.

“We’re thinking this will be the first of many,” said Mitchell Dudek, the head of the firm’s Shanghai office. “Over time, there will be many Paul Hastings schools in China.”

Paul Hastings is the first foreign law firm to participate in Project Hope, a public service project organized by the China Youth Development Foundation to build schools in poor, rural communities. Getting involved in the project was a way for the Los Angeles-based firm to contribute in a country that presents some obstacles to traditional pro bono work.

“We’re becoming a participant in that economy,” said Chairman Seth Zachary. “It’s an important part of our strategy to give something back, to be a participant on both ends.”

It’s also a unique branding opportunity.

“It certainly helps recruiting because it shows us to be a socially active foreign investor,” Dudek said. “It’s one more thing that shows how we try to reinvest and help the communities we’re in.”

It’s common for law firms to get involved with more innovative community projects in foreign countries since it’s often hard to find pro bono opportunities abroad, said Esther Lardent, the president of the Pro Bono Institute at Georgetown University Law Center. There isn’t always cultural and political acceptance of pro bono representation, and in countries like China, lawyers licensed to practice at international firms cannot handle cases in local courts.

While pro bono opportunities are slowly expanding, they remain scarce enough that the institute does not count foreign hours towards firms’ tallies in its Pro Bono Challenge.

But that doesn’t mean good works go unnoticed. “The Chinese government expects foreign firms licensed to operate in China to be good citizens,” noted Hildebrandt International’s Michael Short.

While law firms should perhaps be motivated by altruism, and not just money, Lardent said the Pro Bono Institute is a big believer in mixed messages.

“If you’re opening an office in a new country, then showing you’re not just there to help the very tiny percentage of rich companies is very good marketing for the firm,” she said. “And we don’t think there’s anything wrong with it.”

Nor does David Lash, the managing counsel of O’Melveny & Myers’ pro bono services. It can raise the firm’s profile, and give its lawyers a deeper understanding of the community in which they work, Lash said. “The more you invest in a community, the better the business relationships are as well.”

Since opportunities are harder to find abroad, Latham & Watkins is helping to organize the first international seminar on pro bono, set for this October in Hungary.

“I think we’re going to see an expansion of both community service and pro bono internationally,” said Amos Hartston, Latham’s pro bono counsel.

China’s Hope program says it has built more than 9,500 schools throughout the country, many sponsored by local organizations, and some by global enterprises, like Coca-Cola and Motorola. The schools are commonly named after the organization donating the funds.

Dudek said the location of the new school is meaningful for at least two of lawyers in his firm’s Shanghai office, as they both grew up in the mountainous province that houses the school — about a 12-hour drive from Shanghai — before receiving degrees in the United States.

The 268-student school will likely be a magnet school for five villages, concentrating the best resources in one place. In addition to the firm’s initial cash contribution, Paul Hastings will likely donate additional funds as other facilities, such as dormitories, are needed.

Dudek said lawyers at the firm also plan to roll up their sleeves and head to the school for a weekend of clearing rocks or painting walls.

“At the signing ceremony, I said that I hope one day we’ll be able to hire someone from the school,” Dudek said.

How Employers Can Effectively Help Legal Recruiters Do Our Jobs Better

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Sponsor Link: DaCare Legal Search (China)
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I. Introduction

You’ve received a call from the managing partner in your firm’s intellectual property practice, who needs to hire three new associates, pronto.

You, as the law firm recruiting manager, need to come up with candidates for him as soon as possible. Although you hear the urgency in his voice, you are also aware that he is unlikely to compromise his high standards.

1. HELPFUL HINTS

The best way to demonstrate what works best is by offering a list of suggestions, followed by examples of unhelpful, adequate, and excellent responses in that eternal search for great lawyers.

1. Let us know your working style (and what drives you nuts). While many headhunters may think they understand what it is like to work in a law firm recruiting department, most have absolutely no idea of the daily pressures and multitudes of inquiries you deal with. As headhunters, we routinely hear horror stories from law firms about over-eager and inexperienced headhunters who believe, for example, that it is appropriate to follow up on a submission every single day, beginning the day after a candidate is presented. What do you do?

a. Unhelpful approach: Don’t respond to inquiries and hope that the person stops annoying you with “Hi, just checking in” phone calls and emails.

b. Excellent approach: Explain your preferences upfront with a brief phone conversation or email. For example, do you appreciate follow-up calls, or do they bother you? Do you like inquiries by email or phone? Submissions by email or fax? What information do you like to have right from the start with your submissions? Taking the time to explain this information early on will save you a lot of time and future headaches. The search consultant will also appreciate knowing this information as well.

2. Call to discuss your important searches with the headhunters you use regularly.
Communicating your needs on specific searches can be done in any number of ways. Many firms provide the search firms they favor with a list of open searches on a regular basis.

a. Adequate request: Often, when the firm begins a new search, it’s added to a list of open searches and sent out by email to certain search firms as an immediate update, or with the next scheduled circulation of law firm recruiting needs.

b. Excellent request: A phone call to a search firm or consultant you respect can serve to highlight an immediate need or a particular piece of necessary information that might have otherwise been overlooked. For example, you might name what types of candidates have not previously worked out or specific off-the-record information that may not be appropriate for wide distribution. Moreover, by receiving a call, the headhunter will put that search at the top of the pile because you’ve identified him/her as someone you want to work with. No one receives a personal phone call about a search if the firm isn’t committed to filling the spot.

3. Clearly define the scope of your search.
Effectively defining the scope of your search includes specifying the (1) ideal and “in a perfect world” candidate; (2) the “not perfect, but we’re still willing to consider” candidate; and (3) the “please don’t even bother” candidate. While you may prefer to be a bit broader in your advertisements so as not to eliminate potential candidates, you can afford to be much more specific with your search consultant.

a. Adequate request: “We are looking for patent associates (electrical engineering background) with 3 to 6 years’ experience.”

b. Excellent request: “We are looking for a patent prosecution-only associate with 3-6 years of experience prosecuting electrical patent applications. (Must have experience with semiconductors and liquid crystal display technology.) This candidate should also be familiar with patent licensing issues, and Chinese language skills would be a bonus. (The department has numerous clients from China.) The ideal candidate will have an advanced degree in electrical engineering and both law firm and PTO experience. We would still be open to considering candidates with only undergraduate degrees in electrical engineering or only law firm experience. However, we will not consider candidates without prior law firm experience. Our IP practice is quite picky with grades, so ideal candidates should be from top-20 law schools and in the top 30 percent of their classes. We would still be open to considering candidates from other Tier-1 law schools so long as they are in the top 20 to 30 percent of their classes.”

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Having a standard, firm-approved search-intake form that requests all the essential information is very helpful in streamlining the process and making sure everybody is aware of precisely what type of information is needed. If your firm does not yet have one, suggest having one created with input from the recruiting committee.

2. HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY

4. Give honest and specific feedback regarding the candidates you interview.
Because firms and practice groups are so different, the same candidate going on several interviews will typically get quite different responses from different firms.

Obviously, for you to give feedback on every candidate we present would take up too much time and is just not practical. However, if a candidate has had an interview, providing specific feedback can help us create a better and more sharply defined template to use for future candidates.

For example, if a candidate interviews and gets an offer, let the headhunter know what you liked about the candidate so that we can keep this information in mind for future candidates. Likewise, if you decide to pass on a candidate after an interview, any specific feedback you can provide (regarding the candidate’s personality, experience, etc.) will allow us to better assess future candidates and whether they would be a likely fit.

a. Adequate response: “Unfortunately, we are unable to bring Joe Smith in for further interviews at this time.”

b. Excellent response: “Unfortunately, we are unable to bring Joe Smith in for further interviews at this time. We thought his experience and credentials were right on, but the attorneys in the finance group noted that he did not seem genuinely enthusiastic about our practice. This group is very collegial and really wants to hire somebody who is extremely enthusiastic and committed.”

5. If a candidate has interviewed, keep the lines of communication open, even if you are not in the position to make an offer immediately.
One major roadblock to effective recruiting is losing the candidate because too much time has elapsed between the interview and offer stages. There are many perfectly good reasons the firm may have for this delay, most of them simply administrative. Nonetheless, from a candidate’s perspective (where two days seems like two weeks), delay is almost always interpreted as a lack of interest and almost always lowers the candidate’s view of the firm. One of the search consultant’s roles is to encourage a firm to move the process along while managing the candidate’s expectations and explaining the realities of the recruitment process.

a. Adequate communication: Tell the headhunter that there is no information to communicate and that the firm will be in touch when it knows whether or not it will extend an offer.

b. Excellent communication: “Our door is open.” Although it is frustrating to return calls to a headhunter, wanting to know whether the candidate will receive an offer when you don’t know the answer, keeping the lines of communication open is extremely important. Why? We have seen numerous candidates have unnecessary reservations about a firm during the post-offer stage due to the false impression that “the firm waited so long, it must not be very interested in me.”

The best thing to do for a quality candidate who may have to wait for an offer? Tell your recruiter to keep that candidate “warm,” and keep yourself available, even if you have nothing of substance to report. Also, if there is an administrative reason for the delay, let the headhunter know this as well. Therefore, the recruiter can assure the candidate that the lines of communication are open and that the process is moving along and provide an appropriate explanation when necessary.

A BIGGER PICTURE

6. Let us know how we are doing over the long term.
Often overlooked in the day-to-day details is long-term feedback for search firms and individual recruiters. Taking the time to reflect long term on your relationship with a search firm can increase the service you receive in the short term. a. Adequate approach: “We’ve used you before, so we wanted to let you know of a new search.”

b. Excellent approach: “You know, we hired John through you last year. He’s doing extremely well. He jumps in on every file and has really shown initiative, and that’s a big deal here.” At the same time, the following is also an excellent way to communicate: “We worked with you on a search last year, and we felt that you were sending too many unrelated résumés during that time.” This kind of long-term feedback (as opposed to feedback on an individual résumé or interview) is useful because it allows the search consultant to develop a template to do business with you the way you want it done.

Remember, you can directly influence how effectively a search consultant acts on your behalf. While it may take a little bit more time upfront to put these tips to use, we guarantee that you will be rewarded over the long term.

by Dan Binstock, Esq., Carey Bertolet

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How much money does a Beijing lawyer make?

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Today’s edition of the Legal Mirror featured a new financial column called ‘Checking Your Pockets’ The aim of the column is to inform the readers about how much money people in selected industries make in Beijing. To pay respect to its name, Legal Mirror kicked off with lawyers. Here are the results of the report:

#1 If you want to earn the megabucks in the law business forget about being a prosecutor. The real money comes from deal-making consultancy and legal services provided to big companies and multinationals. Beijing lawyers specialized in this field – especially if they’ve studied abroad and have international experience – can make up to 10 million RMB a year (1,28 million USD).

#2 With an average salary of 300.000 RMB a year (36,136 USD) top Real Estate lawyers can’t really complain. The ever soaring real estate market in Beijing, gives them plenty of work to write and check on contracts, agreements, disputes and so forth.

#3 Moving down in the ranking we find lawyers that come from out of town, working for Chinese legal firms from other provinces and with branch offices in the Capital. If they work hard enough the waidi lüshi or lawyers from out of town) can make up to 6,000 RMB a month (726 USD).

#4 Like in every other country, at the bottom of the pyramid we find the apprentice lawyers. According to Legal Mirror, these poor chaps have to work hard and do the most boring jobs in the firm for at least five years, before starting to make some decent money. In the meantime, they have to make do with around 1,000 RMB a month (121 USD).

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