First year law students begin to try to distinguish law firms from one another in the spring and they are hungry for useful information. Lateral candidates with a body of knowledge with which to compare firms are looking for information all of the time.
One firm has gone to great lengths to give both students and lawyers the information they need to seek out a firm with a well-defined point of view and a willingness to put character and culture on the line.
Halleland Lewis Nilan & Johnso, a 13-year-old firm in Minneapolis, consulted associates and partners and created the Lawyer Job Interview Translator. It is funny and pointed. It addresses the questions and issues that law students and lawyers care about. It offers a wry perspective on issues that are often muddled, mumbled and glossed over in interviews, and it opens the door for students and lawyers to ask serious questions about diversity, leadership, technology, office culture and compensation in their interviews.
This 58-lawyer firm has focus: labor and employment, business law, intellectual property litigation, product liability and mass tort litigation, commercial litigation, and health care, and a clear plan to develop lawyers and to connect them with clients. The firm represents national and regional clients, and by culture and demonstrated history, junior lawyers get first-class training and front-line responsibility.