Drinker Biddle & Reath - First Year Program

First Year Program

In 2009, Drinker Biddle launched a ground-breaking training program for first year lawyers. Unlike any other large national law firm, Drinker Biddle began an era in the training and professional development of its first year lawyers. The program increased the quality and intensity of its new lawyers' training, while lowering the first years' billable requirements and rates. The new program was a direct response to the Association of Corporate Counsel's Value Challenge. Through the ACC and other venues, clients made it clear that things needed to change, and the status quo was unacceptable. Drinker Biddle developed their new training program as a result. The training program is meant to last six months, during which the new lawyers' time will be divided into three main parts: a core curriculum, practice-specific training and an "apprenticeship". One of the ways Drinker Biddle was able to provide the time for such training was the decision to free the new lawyers from any requirements regarding billable work for clients during the program. At the end of the program in spring 2010, Drinker Biddle anticipates that the new first years will be ahead of the game and ready to succeed. The program was featured in a front-page story in the New York Times on Sunday, November 19, 2011, entitled "What They Don't Teach Law Students: Lawyering."