How One NFL Team Would Draft Law Firm Associates
When New England Patriots Coach Bill Belichick chooses his new players in the NFL draft, he doesn’t opt for anyone he doesn’t need.
And if Belichick was managing partner of a BigLaw firm and Patriots owner Robert Kraft was his partner, the two would make some changes in the way such firms traditionally field their attorney team, writes Cleveland Browns fan Aric Press for The American Lawyer (sub. req.) in an article reprinted by the Am Law Daily.
For starters, Belichick & Kraft would make a game plan, determining where they were, where they wanted to be and what players they needed to get there. Any partners who disagreed when this plan was announced at a partners meeting would be put on waivers. Then the name partners would figure out whether their firm needed to hire new talent or could simply get more out of their existing lawyers to meet these needs, the article predicts.
Next the Belichick firm would send out talent scouts to the law schools. Although they might start by looking at transcripts, the scouts would also talk with prospects’ law professors and classmates and watch them in action in moot court and other venues. Those who made the cut would be invited to a four-day tryout camp.
Finally, the firm would extend offers to its top attorney picks—and negotiate to get the most bang for their buck in each player’s compensation package.
While this fanciful exercise may never be duplicated in reality, “I suspect about as many NFL top draft picks become All-Pros as law review editors become Am Law 100 partners,” writes Kessenides. Those law firms seeking to emulate Belichick’s winning ways, the article suggests, should take their hiring as seriously as their billing.
