Before starting work at Andrews Kurth on Oct. 1, the firm’s nine incoming first-year lawyers will participate in a boot camp. It won’t involve sprints on a track and pushups at a park. Instead, the associates will spend three weeks in a business-education boot camp in Houston run by The Fullbridge Program of Cambridge, Mass.
“Everybody finished their education with different degrees of business background. To help level that playing field, this is one quick opportunity. . .,” says Bob Jewell, the firm’s managing partner. “We want our people to understand the clients’ business.”
Jewell says the boot camp, which will run Sept. 4 through Sept. 24, will help the young lawyers understand business and learn skills such as financial analysis. The firm is requiring all first-years to participate before they actually start work to avoid any conflicting demands on their time from clients or senior lawyers, he says.
Marty DeBusk, the firm’s partner in charge of professional development, says the program is similar to a master’s in business administration program and the graduation ceremony calls for presentations by the young lawyers.
“Part of the skills are public speaking, teamwork and putting together a presentation, if you will,” she says.
According to Andrews Kurth, the firm is the first in Texas to use The Fullbridge Program for its new associates.
— Brenda Sapino Jeffreys
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