Brad Vynalek, Cornell Boggs Author Article for Legal Dive About How Mentoring Can Strengthen Client-Firm Relationship
Quarles & Brady leaders Brad Vynalek and Cornell Boggs wrote an article for Legal Dive about how working together to create mentoring opportunities for attorneys can strengthen the bond between law firms and their clients. Vynalek is president of Quarles and Boggs is of counsel and senior strategic advisor.
In the article, Vynalek and Boggs note the important role strong mentorship played in helping them achieve success in their careers and outline a variety of ways firms and client can partner to develop young talent while simultaneously meeting the broader business needs of both organizations.
An excerpt:
With tighter budgets, corporate law departments and their general counsel want to get more value from their law firms. A recent Thomson Reuters survey looked at the importance GCs place on outside counsel who are close to their business and more commercially minded, as well as how these factors weigh into why they recommend their best performing firms.
At the same time, law firms need to strike the right balance of experience when staffing client teams. Developing early-career associates fresh out of law school can be a challenge, especially when it comes to giving them meaningful work to stretch and develop their skills.
As a law firm president and veteran general counsel, we’ve experienced these challenges directly — from both sides. We’ve also found a solution in joint firm-client mentorship programs, which offer career development for young lawyers and strengthen relationships with clients by adding value. Whether it’s creative secondment programs that give law-firm associates a firsthand view of the client’s business or sharing pro bono opportunities with in-house lawyers, joint mentorship programs are an opportunity to strengthen the ties between the law firm and in-house teams.
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The benefits flow both ways. One of the best things about collaborative mentorship efforts between law firms and clients is that programs can be tailored to their unique relationship, shared goals and distinct cultures. Properly designed, these programs should help fill the mentorship gaps within an organization while playing to its strengths — allowing associates to get a better understanding of the client’s business while also exposing in-house attorneys to new opportunities.