Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP has partnered with Legal Innovators, an alternative legal services provider (ALSP) to work on a unique training and mentorship program. Through the program, two lawyers from Legal Innovators will join Orrick’s incoming class of 2020 graduates.
These lawyers will join Orrick as “Orrick Legal Innovators’ Fellows” and will be fully integrated into the firm’s client teams while simultaneously receiving training under the program. The program will span over a period of two years and at the end of the second year, the Fellows may be offered full-time associate positions with Orrick depending upon their performance. In addition to these two Fellows, a group of diverse lawyers joining Orrick in 2021 will also receive mentorship under the training program led by Legal Innovators.
The Legal Innovators training program has been jointly developed by Legal Innovators co-founder and Chairman, Jonathan Greenblatt, who was also the former head of Professional Development at Paul Weiss and David Cruickshank, Principal at Edge International. The program helps lawyers to develop analytical, writing, and business development skills. Legal Innovators’ hiring approach looks beyond traditional recruitment parameters and considers more than 20 factors, such as accolades and undergrad work experience. It uses predictive analysis while considering these factors to determine the potential success of a candidate. Through the program, both the organizations also aim to bring a systemic change in diversity and inclusion at BigLaw.
Bryan Parker, CEO of Legal Innovators and a former lawyer at Shearman & Sterling, said, “The opportunity to be trained and mentored while working with world-class firms like Orrick, plus the opportunity to secure permanent employment, are the hallmarks of the value proposition Legal Innovators offers to young lawyers who work for us. We’re humbled and thrilled to add a firm of Orrick’s quality and innovative nature as our first and foundational law firm partner. We’re excited to assist the firm in driving real progress in the areas of diversity and inclusion, including what we believe may be the development of new tools that may further accelerate progress.”
Siobhan Handley, Orrick’s Chief Talent Officer, said, “We’re focused on applying science-backed insights to the way we recruit and develop lawyers in a way that’s inclusive and attractive to top, diverse talent. While we’re experimenting with a number of approaches, we’re especially impressed by Legal Innovators’ methodology and excited, not only to welcome the two Orrick Legal Innovators’ Fellows, but also to learn from their creative thinking and curriculum to ensure we improve the way we support diverse talent.”
Founded in 2019 by Bryan Parker and Jonathan Greenblatt, Legal Innovators provides new and unique approaches towards hiring, pricing, and diversity of junior legal talent. The company provides a 2-year work-based learning program to recruit and hire junior legal talent. In December, the company collaborated with Bechtel Corporation, a leading construction, engineering, and project management company to expand its in-house model.
