Your Career at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP
The Summer Program
Our summer program offers an opportunity to experience life as a Cadwalader junior associate. For 10 to 12 weeks after your second year of law school, you will have an opportunity to be directly involved in making meaningful contributions to ongoing projects. Our goal is to expose you to the various aspects of the practice of law: meeting with clients, participating in strategy and drafting sessions, and attending negotiations, closings, depositions and court appearances. Our project-oriented approach ensures that associates from different departments and offices work together on a matter, providing valuable experience for our attorneys and positive results for our clients. After an in-depth orientation, you may work in several of our departments, depending on your interests. Training takes place throughout the summer with an emphasis on substantive and skills-building presentations and seminars. Associate and partner mentors work closely with you throughout the summer, and you will be asked to take on a pro bono project as well. Besides day-to-day appraisals of your work by supervisors and mentors, a formal evaluation will come at mid-summer and again at the completion of the program.
Joining a Practice
Upon joining the firm, associates are assigned to one of the firm's practice departments. Placements are made based upon the interests of the associate and the needs of the firm. We believe that focus is an essential ingredient for success. Therefore, we do not have a rotation program. However, our project-oriented practice results in matters being staffed by cross-disciplinary teams of lawyers. As a junior associate, a Cadwalader attorney can expect to work directly with the partner in charge of the matter, or in the case of large, complex matters, with a team of senior attorneys.
Becoming a Lawyer
Cadwalader recognizes the critical importance of on-the-job and formal training for all attorneys, from summer associates to partners. Each practice department is staffed by a Training Partner and a Manager of Professional Development who together oversee content for training programs that are offered to attorneys in the group as well as develop a year-round curriculum to enhance existing knowledge and explore new issues and developments in relevant fields. In 2011, Cadwalader took in an important step in further enhancing training by developing and implementing a program that functions like a university where junior associates receive training in the fundamentals and, as they become more senior, delve into increasingly specialized instruction in their chosen field. The broad curriculum begins with a firm grounding in the law relevant to the firm’s practice areas, expanding to include skills required to translate that knowledge into effective counseling and management of clients (writing, negotiating, effective use of technology, client development) and skills necessary to succeed and advance within the firm (management of superiors, management of subordinates, leadership, time management).
In addition, the firm is a Privileged Member of the Practicing Law Institute, which allows all attorneys to access PLI's programs on an unlimited basis, and encourages participation in other educational programs offered by bar associations and independent providers.
How Am I Doing?
In addition to regular feedback from your mentors and supervisors, who are responsible for monitoring and reviewing your work, you will take part in a formal evaluation after your first twelve months at Cadwalader. Your client assignments and specific skills will be evaluated, along with time spent on pro bono, recruiting, mentoring, marketing and training activities. At this time you will have the opportunity to write a self-evaluation of how your work and training are meeting your career goals and expectations. You may also discuss general concerns and observations with the reviewing partners. Subsequent evaluations take place at the beginning of each calendar year.
I Have Some Things to Say
In addition to sharing feedback with our associates, the firm would like to receive feedback from them as well. There are several avenues by which to communicate this feedback.
Managers of Professional Development: Our Managers of Professional Development oversee their department's staffing process, monitor attorney workload, and provide associate support regarding career guidance and navigating the use of the firm's resources. They also serve as ombudsman for associates in order to improve communication and morale, and mange their department's in-house training programs.
Upward Reviews: In an effort to foster an environment where excellence and teamwork are encouraged and recognized, Cadwalader lawyers also engage in an upward review process every two years that focuses on the supervisory, management, and leadership skills and behaviors of lawyers in their sixth year of practice and beyond.
Firm Committee: The Firm Committee was established in 2001 and meets monthly to address issues of concern to associates. Associates from all offices sit on the committee, as well as the Chairman, the firm’s Hiring Partner and several other partners. The partner liaisons work with the associates on the committee to (a) improve communication, (b) answer questions and address concerns, and (c) establish and implement firm policies with respect to topics ranging from recruitment, retention, and orientation to the evaluation and professional development of Cadwalader's legal staff.
Making a Mark: Community Involvement and Social Responsibility
As one of the nation's oldest law firms, Cadwalader has a long-standing commitment to professional service in the public interest. We continue this long tradition of public service with numerous and varied pro bono representations in all of our offices in a range of areas, including art, corporate, environmental, litigation, real estate, family law, immigration, dispute resolution, and tax matters. Our wide-ranging programs include plaintiffs fighting for their civil rights, families facing eviction from public housing, indigent criminal defendants, not-for-profit groups seeking to improve society through service or the arts, and community service organizations in need of volunteers or other assistance.
Cadwalader's strategy also takes into account the environmental impact of our business practices. We have undertaken numerous broad-based initiatives to become more environmentally conscious in all of our locations and in all of our functional areas, and are examining and reworking our practices in cooperation with our vendors, clients, and neighbors.
Enhancing the Team and Supporting the Individual
Cadwalader is committed to encouraging and enhancing the firm’s collective strength by leveraging individual backgrounds, talents, perspectives and skills. To ensure that we fulfill this commitment, we have a comprehensive program designed to further diversity and inclusion in the workplace and in the legal profession. Our programs, policies, and initiatives are all designed to ensure the support of individual differences. From diversity training, specialty bar association memberships, affinity groups, and mentoring, we work with our personnel to build awareness and understanding of cultural backgrounds and differences, the benefits of embracing diversity and inclusion, and overcoming barriers to diversity and inclusion.
Contact Us
Our recruiting staff is available to answer any questions you may have:
New York
Susan Harlow
Director of Legal Recruitment
Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP
One World Financial Center
New York, NY 10281
Tel: 212 504 6565
Email: susan.harlow@cwt.com
Charlotte
Courtney L. Ix
Manager of Attorney Development and Legal Recruitment
Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP
227 West Trade Street
Charlotte, NC 28202
Tel: 704 348 7855
Email: courtney.ix@cwt.com
Washington
Caitlin Erchick
Attorney Development and Legal Recruitment Senior Assistant
Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP
700 Sixth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001
Tel: 202 552 7671
Email: caitlin.erchick@cwt.com
Houston
Emily M. Thomas
Senior Manager of Attorney Development and Legal Recruitment
Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP
227 West Trade Street
Charlotte, NC 28202
Tel: 704 348 5238
Email: emily.thomas@cwt.com
