What Do Associates Want?

The recent mid-level associate satisfaction survey, conducted by The American Lawyer provides insights into what law firm associates want. While the survey participants are 3rd, 4th and 5th year associates at large firms, small firms should take heed of the survey results as well – small firms can attract talent if they can provide associates with what they’re missing at the larger firms.

The American Lawyer survey asked mid-level associates about their satisfaction with such aspects of their practice as: relations with partners, training, communication about partnership criteria and openness about firm finances.

Associates say that the biggest problems are communication, transparency and partnership issues. They complain about poor communication surrounding firm happenings (such as office closings), hours and unpredictability. They feel as if their time isn’t their own, and that new technology makes them always ‘on call.’

Associates also complain about the long odds of making partner and the lack of open discussion about long term prospects with the firm or alternatives to partnership. While firms claim there is nothing they can do about those complaints because they don’t know an individual associate’s prospects for partnership until they’ve been with the firm for a while, it appears that few, if any, guidelines or criteria for partnership are communicated to associates.

Some firms claim they don’t want to share detailed financial information with young associates. But is the kind of detailed information firms are afraid of sharing the only information that would satisfy associates? Some firms provide associates with information such as the identity of the relationship partner on an account and how much money that client brings into the firm. This can be valuable information for associates to have.

Some law firms blame associates’ high expectations for their dissatsifaction with law firm life. They claim that associates expect real responsibility, high profile work and “rock star treatment” and are disappointed when confronted with the reality of being a law firm associate. But how much of those expectations are created by the firms themselves, with their summer associate programs that provide a distorted view of firm life? Is it a classic ‘bait and switch’ situation, in which associates are shown one view of what it will be like to work for the firm before they become associates, and then dealt a much different reality upon entrance into the firm as an associate?

The strategies employed by firms that have increased in the rankings reveal what can be done to attract and keep talent in your firm. The firms that increased in the rankings did one or more of the following:

• Gave briefings about finances and business strategy to associates;
• Provided information about the path to partnership;
• Solicited input and listened to questions from associates;
• Made a concerted effort to focus on associate satisfaction;
• Instituted rainmaking programs for promising associates, including one on one consulting;
• Increased the amount of time associates spent working closely with partners;
• Conveyed to associates their chances of making partner;
• Began bonus programs based on merit or other criteria (not merely class year);

As one firm noted, more than programs themselves, instituting a firm culture which focuses on associates as the future of the firm is key. In that kind of culture, training, mentoring and other issues important to associates will naturally flow.

Information for this post was obtained in part from two recent articles: one from The American Lawyer: New York State of Mind and one from The Legal Intelligencer: Some Pa. Firms Soar in Midlevel Associate Satisfaction.