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Jackson Walker L.L.P :: Frequently Asked Questions
Q. What are the different Practice Areas of the Firm?
The firm provides services in all aspects of general practice with particular focus in the following practice areas: business transactions; bankruptcy, creditor's rights & corporate reorganization; corporate finance; securities; venture capital; energy; litigation; white collar crime; labor; employment benefits & executive compensation; environmental law; media & communications; intellectual property and computer law; real estate; tax; and estate planning & administration.
Q. How many hours of billable time does the firm expect from a new associate?
The firm generally avoids inflexible rules or requirements with respect to associate practice or development although an annual average of 1950 billable hours is considered a minimum to be eligible for bonus compensation.
Q. What is Jackson Walker's vacation policy for attorneys?
There are no express policies regarding associate vacations. Associates are treated as professionals and each is permitted, and indeed expected, to manage free time in accordance with his or her work load. Most associates find the time for between one and three weeks of vacation each year including assorted long weekends whenever possible.
Q. How is an associate evaluated on performance?
The partners of the firm are surveyed biannually regarding the progress of associates within his or her practice group, with which they have had contact, and that information is communicated to the associate.
Q. What kind of training can an associate expect?
The firm offers all new associates formal training in the form of a broad-based practical core curriculum of business and professional topics. Also, each section within the firm presents a series of seminars ranging from "how to" primers on issues such as depositions and loan documentation, to updates for all attorneys on the latest legal developments. Associates are encouraged to take advantage of the wealth of experience present in the firm not only through the formal training sessions presented by senior attorneys, but also by seeking guidance or criticism from all of the firm's attorneys with respect to problems or questions of any nature. The firm recognizes that the best way for an attorney to learn is through a combination of formal training, assisting others and exercising individual responsibility.
Q. How is the summer associate program conducted?
Each summer the firm invites second-year law students to participate in the firm's summer associate program. Depending upon the size of the second-year class, first-year students may be invited as well. Law students will have the opportunity to work in as many of the firm's offices and practice areas as they desire and the lengths of their clerkships reasonably permit. Summer associates may elect to split their summer employment between Jackson Walker and other firms provided that they spend at least six weeks with Jackson Walker during the first half of the summer. Each of the firm's offices has its own recruiting committee that is primarily responsible for decisions on employment offers for students who have expressed an interest or clerked in that office. Thus, students interested in becoming associates with Jackson Walker need not be concerned that decisions on their employment future are being controlled by people with whom they have had little or no contact. The recruiting committees do work together to establish firm-wide recruiting and hiring goals, standards and policies.
Q. Will I be spending all of my waking hours in the library just doing research?
Although the relative drudgery of the library is an inevitable part of the summer associate program and plays a vital role in assessing a clerk's legal ability, the firm makes an affirmative effort to expose clerks to the variety of problems and experiences that lawyers actually confront in the course of their practices. In addition, the firm recognizes that there is more to the employment decision than merely evaluating a student's academic ability or, from the summer associate's perspective, determining that the law firm has a sophisticated practice.
Q. Will I be interacting with other attorneys in the firm on a regular basis?
It is equally important for both to learn about the people with whom they will be practicing. The firm believes the likelihood of either the firm or the summer associate being misled is minimized if both are afforded an opportunity to become truly acquainted with each other. Thus, the firm organizes a wide variety of social activities throughout the summer. The firm pays competitive salaries and will reimburse summer associates for travel expenses to their destination and provides assistance in locating housing.
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