The Changing Legal Profession

A couple of good articles have come to my attention about the changing legal profession.  First, there is a good retrospective paper available as part of the "Virtual Law Library" on the D.C. Bar website:

The Changing Legal Profession, by Abe Krash.  Abe Krash practiced for 50 years with Arnold & Porter.  Here's a quote:

As Judge Rifkind noted, “an apprenticeship under a good master” is a critical part of learning the craft of lawyering. In the past, when firms were smaller, partners knew many of the associates, and they had an interest in training them for the reason that a goodly number of associates would become partners in the future. However, as to many associates with whom they now work, partners do not have such an interest. As I have noted, the turnover rate of associates at most large firms is extremely high, and only a handful of associates will be elevated to partnership. There is accordingly a diminished incentive for partners personally to invest valuable time in training associates who will leave the firm. A partner may understandably ask: why should I devote a lot of effort to training this associate when he or she will be gone from the firm in a year or two?

Coincidentally, there is a recent article in Findlaw, "Junior Associates - The State of the Legal Profession",which states at one point:

The training and loyalty of junior associates is closely tied to the issue of high salaries. Lack of "real world" legal training haunts most junior associates, who are routinely assigned to tedious document review projects.

Training a highly-paid first year associate who will most likely move on in a couple of years is a dilemma faced by many firms. According to the panel, 78% of lawyers are leaving their firms after only 1 or 2 years.