First Year Associates

While a lawyer never stops learning and developing, the process is most critical at the beginning of a professional’s career. At Day Pitney, we make the most of these early years, providing our associates broad opportunity to become great lawyers by delivering exceptional training and offering engaging, hands-on experience.

Challenging Assignments
New associates are assigned to a practice group, based on the firm’s needs and the associate’s preferences. First-year associates do far more than conduct library research and create documents. At Day Pitney, first-year associates who demonstrate the ability to do so, work directly with clients, negotiate deals, go to court, and take depositions.

Day Pitney associates access a broad spectrum of legal education opportunities. Internally, the firm conducts firm-wide seminars several times a year, in addition to monthly department and practice group meetings and presentations, and special programs on such topics as negotiations, depositions, and finance. In addition, associates join in training sessions delivered by individual departments that cover a broad array of business- and trial-related topics.

All attorneys are encouraged to attend external seminars and programs – underwritten by the firm – to strengthen their skills and enhance their performance. Day Pitney also provides tracking support for those attorneys who are admitted in states that require mandatory CLE.

Guidance and Feedback
Our senior lawyers are dedicated to training and mentoring new lawyers. Associates learn by doing, working side-by-side with more experienced colleagues. These interactions build their knowledge of the law and help enhance the ways in which Day Pitney associates deliver client service.

Our senior lawyers make it a practice to provide regular, informal feedback to the associates with whom they work. In addition, each first-year associate receives a mid-year and an annual performance review. After that, formal associate evaluations take place annually.