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Codifying Competencies

By Bryn Vaaler
December 27, 2004

When law firms recruit, train, evaluate and promote lawyers, what ideal do they have in mind? What model of lawyer performance are they pursuing: what balance of knowledge, skills and capabilities, work management, ethics, character and commitment, client service and business development? Attempting to put into words our notion of successful performance is a prerequisite to consistency in how we recruit, train, evaluate and promote. It would also appear to be a pre-requisite to fairness and effectiveness in setting expectations among new lawyers and helping them achieve those expectations.

Codifying the associate competencies set out below was a joint effort at my firm. The effort was spearheaded by three groups: the Chief Organization Development Officer and Professional Personnel Committee (jointly in charge of evaluation, promotion and compensation), Professional Development (in charge of lawyer orientation and training) and the Recruiting Committee and related staff. The working group circulated drafts and solicited comments from dozens of partners and associates over a period of nearly a year.

When we set out to codify associate competencies, we made some crucial decisions up front. First, we decided to articulate the competencies we viewed as essential to superior performance rather than attempting to lay out minimum performance standards.

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