By Xiumei Dong

Law360 (September 23, 2020, 3:43 PM EDT ) Postponed bar exams and other coronavirus-spurred challenges have created a divide in how BigLaw is approaching first-year associate start dates. While many firms have pushed off those dates, a handful inspired by their summer program experiences are moving forward with onboarding in the fall.

Three law firms, Goodwin Procter LLP, Milbank LLP and Covington & Burling LLP, confirmed to Law360 they're bringing on their first-year class this fall, saying they'll draw on the lessons learned from hosting summer associate programs remotely.

"We saw through our summer program that we were able to successfully onboard 80-plus new attorneys, to connect with them, get them trained … So building off of that experience and learning both from the successes and from the mistakes that we made, we felt like we have the capacity to onboard these 80-plus new attorneys remotely," Goodwin's national hiring partner, Emily Rapalino, told Law360.

According to Rapalino, 83 new associates will join Goodwin on Oct. 19, and like nearly everyone else at the firm, they will work remotely through at least the end of the year.

Despite the economic slowdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic, client demand for Goodwin's legal services has remained high, and the firm will need additional assistance from the associates, Rapalino said.

"It just made sense from a practical business standpoint for us to start our incoming associates as soon as we could," she added.

Milbank is giving first-year associates the option to join either this fall or in January 2021. According to Rod Miller, a partner in Milbank's New York office and a member of the firm's capital markets group, 58 of the firm's U.S. associates are starting on Oct. 1, while the remaining two will join in January.

"We learned a lot virtually. We learned how to do training better. We learned how to do social interactions better. We learned how to arrange so that the associates got to know each other in a work way. We've dealt with mentoring," Miller said, adding that the firm had effectively done a "test run" with remote training through its 10-week summer associate program.

Following many large companies in New York, Milbank had first offered the associates a January start date. But Miller said the firm was "hearing from our incoming associates that they would not want to wait until January. They'd like to do it earlier."

"So for us, it was how do we accelerate from January and be different from the pack?" he said.

Miller added that the firm is hosting a one-week virtual orientation for new associates, and then they will have the same option as everybody else to work remotely. In the U.S., Milbank has opened its New York, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles offices on a voluntary basis.

The firm is not providing a stipend for associates starting in January, but they can get a cash advance if needed.

In a statement to Law360, Covington also confirmed that its first-year associates will join this fall and will not be deferred or delayed. The majority of Covington's 2020 class is starting on Oct. 12, but because the bar exam has been pushed back in many states, the firm has created additional October start dates for associates "who are completing their studies and sitting for rescheduled bar exams."

Maneuvering Around the Bar Exam

The summer bar exam is typically scheduled for late July or early August, but many states have delayed or canceled the exams because of virus concerns, leaving many law school graduates in limbo. Now, many firms are planning their start dates around students' test schedules.

"We chose our start date of Oct. 19 because the last dates for the bar exam ... are being given Oct. 5 and 6," Rapalino said. "We hope and anticipate that all of our associates will have taken the bar exam by the time they start. But we have to expect the unexpected in today's day and age."

If an unexpected situation does occur, Goodwin will work with associates to best accommodate their needs, Rapalino said.

"If we've learned one thing from this whole experience of the pandemic, [it] is that we need to be flexible and nimble and figure out how to account for the unexpected and to pivot quickly and make a plan B," she said.

However, it is not "an unusual situation" for first-year associates to start working before they are licensed by the bar, said Grover Cleveland, a former law firm partner and the founder of Lessons for Sharks LLC, a firm that provides programs and coaching for new attorneys.

"Some associates in the past have continued to work part time while they're in school, so there are certain things that associates can't do. You also have associates who fail the bar and take it again," Cleveland said. "So yes, it has an impact, but they can still work and be productive and contribute to the firm."

Many Still Waiting Until 2021

With law school graduates still needing to take the bar exam and in-office plans largely uncertain, most law firms are aiming for a 2021 start date in the hope they will be able to start the onboarding process in person.

"We just wanted to buy the time, essentially, in order to have a better sense of what would be the safest and best way for our first-years to join the firm," Kristin Achterhof, Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP's national hiring partner, told Law360 in an interview.

According to Achterhof, Katten has set a Feb. 2 start date for 31 first-year associates. In the meantime, the firm will give the incoming associates an undisclosed stipend while providing the assistance they need to take the bar exam.

"The firm did not feel like it was hesitant to start remotely," Achterhof said. "We just thought that for a number of different reasons, it would be better to put off the decision and see what options were available after some months went by.

Katten is among many BigLaw firms to delay the welcoming of new associates. According to a National Association for Law Placement survey conducted in late June, half of 365 law offices nationally had not yet established start dates for their 2020 first-year associates at that time. Of the offices with confirmed start dates, 62% had scheduled first-year associates to begin in January 2021.

To assist the graduating students for the time being, over two-thirds of offices with deferred start dates said they are providing a deferral package that includes a stipend or other cash payment, the survey found.

"Given the change in the bar exam schedule, which unfortunately coincided in many jurisdictions with our scheduled start date, we moved the start date to January for most of our incoming associates," Alston & Bird LLP chief legal talent partner Liz Price told Law360 in a statement.

Alston & Bird is planning to onboard the new associates virtually. In addition to providing a stipend in the interim, the firm said it is also staying engaged with new associates by including them in its events and training.

In June, Baker McKenzie confirmed that it had changed the start date for its 2020 U.S. associate class from Sept. 14 to Jan. 25. And Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP said in April that it planned to delay the beginning of its 2020 associate program to January — or after postponed bar exams.

Reed Smith LLP's start date for new associates has also been pushed back to early next year. However, the firm said affected associates will receive a stipend this fall, compensation for bar exams and study costs, and health insurance beginning in September.

"With regards to onboarding, we are not deviating from our normal process aside from certain aspects that will be conducted remotely in advance of our first-year associates' official arrival on Jan. 11," Casey Ryan, Reed Smith's global head of legal personnel, said in a statement.

Instead of asking all the associates to join the firm as planned in January, Ropes & Gray LLP has also offered an optional deferral year to its incoming associates, giving them the opportunity to participate in a firm-sponsored fellowship or take a sabbatical year to do anything they want.

Cleveland said it is unlikely that a postponed start date for associates will have a long-term impact on their career development.

"I encourage associates to stay in touch with their firms," he said. "It's going to take the initiative on everybody's part to overcome some of these challenges, but they can read books about legal writing, they can read books about the business of practicing law, integrating with law firms and being a successful lawyer."

--Additional reporting by Michele Gorman. Editing by Philip Shea and Jill Coffey.

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