Professional Development
Training and Professional Development
Lawyers succeed with training and personal and professional development opportunities. At Baker Hostetler, these opportunities begin early on in an associate's career and continue through the partner level.
Associate Academy
Every first-year associate is invited to attend our Associate Academy within six months of joining the firm. From business development and communication skills to due diligence and pre-trial preparation, the Associate Academy provides targeted training for our first-year attorneys, while giving them the opportunity to meet and network with peers from other offices.
 One of the highlights of the Associate Academy for me was the practice group specific sessions for transactional attorneys. These sessions were filled with information on accounting basics, transactional tax considerations and corporate document drafting.
I often refer to the training materials we were given in my daily practice. I believe these sessions provided me with a strong foundation for developing a sound transactional practice and connected me with attorneys throughout the firm I can seek out for answers when I have questions.
The sessions on communication skills, negotiation and career development provided me with a focused action plan for my development as an attorney at Baker Hostetler. The amount of time and effort the firm put into the Associate Academy showed me that the firm truly has a vested interest in my continued success as a legal practitioner.
- Mark Hatcher, Associate, Columbus Office
|
To read more comments about the 2009 Associate Academy, click
for our LEAP newsletter.
Minority Attorney Conference
In May 2007, the firm held its sixth Minority Attorney Conference, with the theme, "Diversity: It's Everybody's Business," which focused on business development and lawyer retention.
Planned and co-chaired by four partners, the event placed an emphasis on skill-building and served to facilitate formal and informal discussions among minority attorneys, top firm management and clients on strategies to increase recruitment, retention and promotion of minority lawyers.
More than 50 minority attorneys, representing all of the firm's offices, Executive Partner Steve Kestner, and other members of firm management participated in the two-day event, held in Cleveland. Besides minority partners from the firm sharing their experiences and advice, guest speakers included client representatives from The E.W. Scripps Company, FirstEnergy Corp., and MetLife, Inc., who provided additional insights and perspective.
Werten F.W. Bellamy, Jr., (left) founder of the annual "Charting Your Own Course" career development conference for minority attorneys (of which Baker Hostetler has been a sponsor for six years), was the keynote speaker, opening the conference with his presentation, "The Roadmap to Your Future—Your Career Trajectory."
The client panel included (left to right in photo below) A.B. Cruz, III, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of The E.W. Scripps Company; Rhonda Ferguson (former Baker Hostetler attorney), Vice President, Corporate, First Energy Corp.; and James Lipscomb, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, MetLife, Inc. Also in attendance was Mary Ray, Associate General Counsel, The E.W. Scripps Company.
The panelists were asked to provide insight into what their companies look for, especially with regard to diversity, when retaining outside counsel, as well as what they consider some of their company's own "best practices" in hiring, training and retaining their workforce.
In a message sent to the firm after the event, Mr. Lipscomb said he "thought the conference was very good," and that continuing to hold this type of firm forum recognizes that "everyone will need to work together to build a value proposition for your women and people of color. In the final analysis, it becomes the value proposition for the future of the firm."
Women Partners Retreat and Program Sponsorships
In addition to the Minority Attorney Conference, the firm held its first Women Partners Retreat in 2005, which brought together our women partners and of counsel from around the country for a two-day event. The event included an opening address by Executive Partner Steve Kestner, sessions on the current status of the firm, leveraging personal strengths, marketing, methods to improve hiring and retention of women, managing work/life balance, advancing to management and a "Women Helping Women" panel that included counsel from firm clients Nationwide Insurance, Forest City Enterprises, the Capital Group and American Greetings.
The event concluded with an open forum, "Where Do We Go From Here?," which provided the context in which the firm's Women's Committee can continue its work to provide recommendations to management with respect to the distinctive challenges facing women in the legal profession.
 The Women Partners Retreat allowed our women partners to not only benefit individually—from the sessions on leveraging personal strengths, personal marketing and business development—but also provided a forum for discussing firmwide initiatives with members of the firm's management team.
The momentum generated during the discussions of firmwide topics did not end with the retreat—it will act as a catalyst for our Women's Committee to be able to further define programs and initiatives that will support, educate, and promote women associates and partners within the firm.
- Lisa Pennington, Office Managing Partner and Chair,
Firmwide Women's Committee, Houston Office |
We also encourage our lawyers to participate in various local, regional and national events that aim to advance the case for women in leadership roles in the legal profession. The firm continues to look for opportunities to sponsor programs whose goals match our own.
Lawyers in Leadership Positions
Our commitment to hiring, retaining and promoting minority and women lawyers manifests itself in the significant number who currently hold management positions within the firm that include: Policy Committee Member, Office Managing Partner, Practice Team Leader and Office Practice Group Coordinator.