Associates Are Worthless? Law Dean Pans Lawyers Who Agree with the Assertion
Clients hoping to lower their bills might be expected to argue that associates are worthless.
But the dean of Duke Law School, David Levi, can’t understand why some lawyers agree with the assertion. “It is wrong and surprising for experienced lawyers inside and outside of firms to acquiesce in, even reinforce, this line of argument,” he writes in the National Law Journal.
Levi is surprised by the amount of criticism “heaped upon younger lawyers, offered as if to justify placing a disproportionate share of the economic downturn on their shoulders.”
He recalls his 17 years as a federal judge, when law clerks were hardworking, skillful and insightful. He suspects the same can be said of associates, who bring to the table differing life experiences, energy and motivation, and a legal education that now offers better preparation for law practice than in years past.
“It may well be that young associates are paid too much and that their time is billed out at too high a rate. Market forces will determine both in the long run,” he writes. “But it breaks faith with our professional values and responsibilities to acquiesce in hyperbolic and misleading statements suggesting that young lawyers are unproductive and of little value.”
