Heather Bock, Howrey LLP's award-winning Chief Professional Development Officer, described significant changes in how law firms are training new associates and explored Elon Law's leadership program over a two-day visit to the law school, February 15 and 16.
Bock, who has been instrumental in the design of Howrey’s nationally-acclaimed associate training programs, said attorney competencies in case management, teamwork, communications, and client relations, among others, are increasingly acknowledged in the legal profession as essential to the long-term success of new associates.
“These skills have become the compass in terms of what we think is important for our associates to be competitive and our firm to be successful,” Bock said. “There’s a shift going on in the industry, where law firms are beginning to recognize the importance of both mastery of substantive law and the wide-range of skills needed to work effectively with others and position firms for success.”
In a program sponsored by Elon Law’s Career Services Office and Student Bar Association, Bock described a series of innovative initiatives at Howrey, designed to enhance the professional development of new lawyers at the firm, including Howrey Bootcamp for summer associates, Howrey U for firm associates, and a new program called First Tier for incoming associates in the fall.
“The Howrey approach has been to identify what competencies make associates successful,” Bock said. “That competency model is now part of our culture. The firm trains and evaluates associates in these skill sets, driving who gets promoted, how we compensate associates, and overall talent management on the pathway to partner.”
John Alexander, Elon Law’s Distinguished Leadership Coach-in-Residence, said, “One of our objectives at Elon Law is to spend time with pacesetters such as Heather Bock to better understand best practices in the profession and to expose our students to their thinking.”
Bock discussed Elon Law’s leadership program in depth with faculty members at an event sponsored by the law school’s Center for Engaged Learning in the Law, and met with Leadership Fellows during her visit to the law school, noting some similarities of the program with the skills training offered at Howrey.
“Elon is really ahead of the curve in terms of realizing that it makes sense to build in these skills, like leadership development and teamwork ability, into the curriculum,” Bock told Elon Law students. “In terms of career success, I think your education is giving you a leg up.”
The Professional Development Department at Howrey has been recognized with the annual American Society for Training and Development BEST award, given to organizations “who set the standard of excellence for exceptional learning practices in their organization.”
In addition, one of Howrey’s associate training programs, Howrey U, received the National Association of Law Placement Annual Award for Distinction for training and development, and the Association for Continuing Legal Education John Day Memorial Award for Professional Excellence in Technology.
