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Professional Development

In a constantly changing legal environment, we believe clients are best served by confident, creative, and well-rounded lawyers.

The broad experiences and training you receive as a new associate will lay the foundation for your future. As your experience builds, you will assume increased responsibilities in your chosen areas of interest.

An Ongoing Focus on Learning

  • “miniMBA” Program: New associates spend their first two weeks in a full-time program that covers the basics of Wall Street, finance, accounting, and other topics usually found in an MBA course. Our goal is to ensure our associates are literate in the business and financial topics they will encounter in their practice.
  • In-House Accredited CLE Program: Comprehensive courses for lawyers with all levels of experience and in all practice areas throughout the year—in person and online.
  • The Cleary Core Curriculum for Leadership Development: An in-house associate training program that delivers the practical knowledge you need to be a great lawyer. Topics include project management, negotiating with difficult adversaries, mentoring junior colleagues, and communicating effectively with clients.
  • Practice Group Meetings and Training: The New York office holds practice group meetings to update all lawyers on legal and business developments and, wherever possible, provide CLE credits. Many of these sessions involve lawyers from our other offices.

“From day one at Cleary, I’ve received incredible mentoring and sponsorship from lawyers of all seniorities. They have advocated for and supported me in publishing legal writing, presenting at CLE trainings, and representing the firm at industry conferences.”  - Katie Dunn, Associate, New York

Training and Mentoring Associates

We give you the training to hit your stride quickly and take responsibility in client matters early on in your career.

  • We present concepts and insights—business, legal, and financial—that delve into the particulars of the transactions and litigation matters you’ll face every day.
  • Experienced mentors will help guide you, both formally and informally, through your professional and personal life at Cleary.
  • We help you build the broad skills that will make you a nimble and well-rounded lawyer.
  • Expectations are clearly defined, and your progress is measured against benchmarks set out in our review process.

Cleary is a firm where lawyers at all levels talk to each other frequently and freely, so working and training go hand-in-hand.

“At Cleary, not only will you be presented with opportunities to follow your interests, you’ll be given the support, guidance, and resources to do it to the best of your ability.”  - Margot Gianis Mooney, Associate, New York

Benefits and Perks

Cleary Gottlieb’s benefits package is one of the most comprehensive in the industry. It’s designed to benefit every member of the firm and target each individual’s diverse needs.

To help accommodate each firm member’s family, eligible dependents include a spouse or qualified domestic partner (same-sex or opposite-sex), unmarried dependent children, stepchildren, and domestic partner’s children.

In addition to paid holidays, vacation, 401(k), and comprehensive health care coverage, Cleary provides additional benefits that include but are not limited to the following:

  • Dental and Vision Care
  • Short- and Long-Term Disability Coverage
  • Parental Leave
  • Medical and Dependent Care Pre-Tax Benefit Plan
  • Pre-Tax Transportation Program
  • Ability to Work Remotely or on a Reduced Schedule
  • Voluntary Insurance Plans
  • Back-Up Childcare Program
  • Access to Maternity & Fertility Programs
  • New Mothers’ Rooms
  • Access to membership-based virtual care services such as Sibly and One Medical
  • Employee Assistance Program
  • Payment for Bar Fees and Approved CLE courses
  • Judicial Clerkship Bonus
  • Moving Expense and Broker Fee Reimbursement (within 3 months of joining the firm)
  • Gym Memberships
  • Flu Shots

Diversity Initiatives

As a firm, we place a premium on the unique perspectives of individuals from a range of backgrounds, beliefs, and life experiences. We believe this helps to keep the firm an open and exciting place to work—and a diversity of perspectives helps us better serve our clients. By prioritizing diversity and inclusion, we promote an environment where women and men of different races, national origins, religions, and sexual orientations can practice law in a collegial and effective manner.

Our active Committee on Diversity Issues includes partners, counsel, associates, and administrative professionals. The Committee focuses on three core areas: recruitment of law students and lawyers of diverse backgrounds, professional development of diverse lawyers, and promotion of an open and ongoing dialogue related to diversity topics.

Two additional standing committees further promote inclusion at the firm with particular emphasis on women’s issues – The Committee on Women’s Issues and the New York Committee on Retention and Promotion of Women. Both committees ultimately aim to foster a sense of community and maintain a support network for female lawyers at the firm.

Opportunities Beyond Cleary

Our network of stellar alumni is among our proudest achievements. Many of our former lawyers

have gone on to join the legal departments of corporations and financial institutions, to teach at universities, and to pursue fields completely outside of the law. These positions have included:

  • Special assistant to the President of the United States and senior director for African Affairs
  • National Security Council director for Russia
  • General counsel for the Department of the Army
  • Senior restructuring officer of the U.S. Department of the Treasury
  • Secretary of the U.S. Treasury
  • President of the U.N. General Assembly
  • Deputy assistant attorney general in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice
  • Senior officials of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York 
  • Advocate general at the European Court of Justice
  • Belgium’s ambassador to the United States
  • Member of the World Trade Organization’s Appellate Body, representing the European Communities
  • General counsel at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
  • 29 United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund and World Trade Organization officials
  • President of the New York City Economic Development Corporation
  • A Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire
  • Authors of books on the law, current events and academic subjects, as well as writers of trade nonfiction
  • Six published fiction authors
  • More than 690 investment banking and finance executives
  • More than 75 hedge fund and private equity executives
  • More than 65 startup and technology company leaders
  • More than 255 general counsel and senior officers at Fortune 500 companies
  • 235 law school deans and professors
  • 60 officials at intergovernmental organizations
  • 50 founders or current directors of not-for-profits

At Cleary, we are looking for lawyers capable of the highest levels of excellence in law, business, diplomacy, and beyond. That’s why for more than 70 years, Cleary has been turning out not just fine lawyers, but fine leaders.

Firm Culture

Cleary Gottlieb was founded by prominent lawyers committed to excellence in the practice of law, while maintaining the highest ethical standards and diversity and collegiality in its lawyers.

Cleary lawyers, not only at the associate level but also at the partner level, are compensated based solely on seniority. Hours billed and the amount of business generated have no effect on any Cleary lawyer’s compensation; lawyers are rewarded just as much for helping their colleagues as they are for helping themselves, because the focus is always on helping our clients.

Our reasoning is not complicated. The best work product results from talented people working in a common enterprise, sharing their knowledge, time, and experience with colleagues. Only a handful of firms around the world are so confident of their core values that they are willing to share the rewards of their work in the way that we do. Generations of Cleary lawyers have proven there is no better way to foster excellence for ourselves and superior service for our clients.

 

Contact Information

Donna Harris

Director of Legal Recruiting

U.S.

Courtney C. Montgomery

Senior Legal Recruiting Manager

New York

Meaghan J. McNamara

Legal Recruiting Manager

Washington, D.C.

For more information on our New York and Washington, D.C. offices, please visit or contact:

NY-Recruiting@cgsh.com or +1 866 247 4562

DCrecruit@cgsh.com or +1 202 974 1802