Ep. 3 – “Milbank@Harvard” and Lessons for Associate Development

Summary:  Episode 3 of the Blacklines & Billables podcast: our interview with David Wolfson, Executive Director of Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy LLP, discussing the “Milbank@Harvard” associate training program and exploring the associate-development lessons learned from the firm’s implementation of this novel, firm-wide, multi-year training program.

Offering a week of immersive, offsite training to associates in the firm’s fourth-, fifth-, sixth-, and seventh-year classes, Milbank@Harvard is a unique program designed to give mid-level and senior associates the legal, business/finance, and leadership/management tools they need to excel and to provide the highest level of client service.

Our interview with with Mr. Wolfson explores the contours of the program, the motivations driving Milbank’s investment, and the insights garnered from the program’s first five years of implementation.  Among other topics, we discuss:

  • why the program begins in the associates’ fourth year;
  • how the program’s focus and curriculum has evolved;
  • the primary associate-training obstacles faced by Biglaw firms;
  • the keys to associate success in the modern law firm;
  • the impact of technology and other stresses facing the modern law firm on associate training;
  • common associate weaknesses; and
  • associate-development advice for junior associates and law students.

More information about the Milbank@Harvard is available at https://www.milbank.com/en/careers/milbank-harvard.html.

The Blacklines & Billables Podcast | Exploring law firm associate success and the cutting edge of legal technology and innovation

Amid a rapidly changing market for legal services, Blacklines & Billables takes a critical look at the cutting edge of legal technology and innovation, as well as law-firm associate success and development.  An avid legal technologist and former Biglaw associate in New York and London, host Christian Lang explores the promise—and pitfalls—of an evolving legal and technological landscape with leading practitioners, legal tech founders, and other thought leaders, building upon the conversations begun on the Blacklines & Billables blog.

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