professionalism
Keeping What You’ve Got:
Professional Development of Existing Talent
By Elizabeth A. (Liz) Price
Alston + Bird LLP
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[email protected]
uch time and effort is spent in the recruitment of new
and lateral lawyers. We engage in efforts to attract
law students through on campus recruiting, office call
backs and summer programs and participate in lateral hiring
searches, headhunter engagements and more. But finding
new lawyers should be just a small part of the greater effort
to train and retain your greatest assets – your talent. Over
the last five years, attorney professional development has
taken on more importance in law firms of all sizes. No longer
content to bring in large numbers of new associates only to
wait to see who rises and falls over time, our profession has
turned a corner and now looks at the ongoing professional
development of our talent as a critical management process.
How each firm structures this function and what each
firm focuses on differs – and it should. There might be
any number of reasons a firm might focus on a particular
developmental area over another. The main point however,
is that there is a calculated focus.
on professional development and retention of good talent.
This has the added benefit of helping those associates who )