U.S. Summer Associates
One Firm What differentiates Bryan Cave is the open road that seamlessly links all of our offices, making us One Firm with a shared practice and not just a shared name. Wherever your home office, you’ll collaborate with lawyers in our other offices as a matter of course. We have worked hard to eliminate fiscal and geographic boundaries between our offices.
We provide incentives to share business across offices, and we host annual practice retreats so our lawyers can get to know one another and build the relationships that facilitate cross-practice and inter-office collaboration.
Each client is considered a client of the whole firm, with access to the resources that will best serve their needs. We act as One Firm because it serves our clients best. For you, that means the best opportunities for interesting work in a national and international practice.
The CultureAt Bryan Cave, we act as our clients’ trusted advisors and advocates, and we take that role very seriously. We care deeply about our clients’ goals, their business and their culture, and we cultivate long-term relationships with them. We endeavor to be our clients’ law firm—not just their tax firm or class action firm—and to meet the highest expectations across all of our practice areas.
We not only care deeply about our clients, but we hold relationships within the firm with equal care and respect. The “golden rule” of our core values is that we treat our colleagues as we do our best clients.
People who work at Bryan Cave place a value on collegial, friendly relations, not on difficult or overbearing attitudes. We do important work for important clients, but we’re not self-important. Integral to the firm’s culture is the combination of high-level, interesting work, and people who are smart, fun and care about your development as a lawyer.
Client Development
Bryan Cave has always focused on building long-lasting relationships with clients rather than on offering a “quick fix.” Many of our clients have been clients of the firm for decades.
New associates have ample opportunity to get to know our existing clients and to be part of teams meeting with potential clients. Associates also develop strong relationships with other lawyers within the firm, which is viewed, among other things, as an important part of business development.
The firm’s annual practice retreats strengthen ties between lawyers, building trust and opportunities to share business when it serves a client’s interest. In fact, it’s not uncommon for clients to attend our retreats, participating in panel discussions about their needs and expectations.
Professional Development At Bryan Cave, we believe that the best lawyers never stop learning. Our firm offers a comprehensive associate professional development program to help ensure that every attorney reaches his or her full potential. Our commitment to this goal is perhaps best exemplified by Bryan Cave’s partners, who provide their expertise and insight as instructors and panelists for each of our programs.
The firm’s professional development programs include:
- New Associate Professional Development Conference
Our orientation for first-year associates uses business case scenarios (focusing on an actual firm client), as well as panel discussions and lectures, to develop areas of core expertise such as project management and effective presentation.
- Mid-level Associate Career Development Conference
The topics at this event are tailored specifically to the needs of lawyers making the transition from junior to mid-level associates. The curriculum offers a mix of practice building and networking skills, supplemented by information about the partnership promotion process.
- Commercial Litigation Curriculum
Our programs combine seminars on the fundamentals of oral argument, deposition and trial advocacy, and offers information on questioning techniques, witness preparation and choosing the most effective legal arguments. Seminars offer interactive simulations that allow associates to practice their skills using actual cases.
- Corporate & Transactional Practice Curriculum
Comprised of over 20 topics, this program focuses on general legal areas as they apply to a corporate practice such as accounting, ethics and client service, as well as specific transactional skills such as closing mechanics, corporate governance, and debt and bank financings.
- Business Development Curriculum
Targeted to mid- and senior-level associates as well as junior partners, this program includes a “Client Interaction Workshop,” which enables lawyers to practice business development skills using role-plays and exercises. It also includes “Asking for the Business,” which uses filmed vignettes of scripted scenarios to launch class discussions about the most effective way to “make the ask.”
Benefits
Bryan Cave provides its lawyers with excellent compensation and benefits, including essential work tools like remote access to the firm's computer systems and paid Blackberry service. Other benefits include:
- Medical, dental and vision insurance
- Life and disability insurance
- Domestic partner health insurance
- Paid vacation
- Three month paid maternity leave
- Individual savings plan
- Health care and dependent care tax savings plans
- Flextime policy
- Dues/seminar expense programs
- Mobile device programs
- Business casual attire
- Formal mentoring program
- Telecommuting support
- Dinner reimbursement program
- New lawyer lunch program
- Six week paid paternity leave
- Six week paid adoption leave