How would you characterize the firm's personality?
Three words describe how we work here: collaboration, cooperation and teamwork. Pillsbury lawyers are comfortable taking initiative and forging meaningful relationships. Also, if you have a biography of Steve Jobs beside a history of World War I and stacks of The Economist, you’re in good company. Pillsbury lawyers are well-rounded.
What kind of training do associates receive?
Pillsbury has two major programs that provide training to our associates as well as continuing legal education for all of our lawyers.
Pillsbury University is our interactive and creative environment where teaching techniques integrate “learn by example” live classroom-style training. Examples of Pillsbury U. programs include:
• Two-day litigation and transactional workshops for first-year associates
• Two-day deposition skills workshops
• Three-day trial practice programs
• In-person and web conferences offered in multiple practice areas, including Corporate, Finance, Intellectual Property and Litigation
• Oral presentations skills training and one-on-one coaching offered in all US offices
• Multi-day conferences for associates and counsel at different seniority levels
• Workshops on ethics, leadership and writing skills
Pillsbury’s Talent Development Program demonstrates the firm’s commitment to nurture, educate and energize its outstanding professionals. Our Mentoring initiative provides associates with one-on-one and “advisory group” mentoring experiences, where you receive guidance from more senior associates and partners on issues ranging from daily firm life and managing workload to reaching your professional goals.
The Career Management prong of the Talent Development Program encourages associates to develop internal and external business plans, and to raise their professional profiles both within the firm and in outside business networks. Workshops cover key topics like identifying your strengths, setting achievable goals, recognizing business opportunities, and managing the transitions that naturally occur with your movement from new lawyer to firmwide leader.
What are the options for lawyers with significant time commitments outside of work?
Pillsbury’s work/life policies help our people find a rhythm that makes it easier to realize professional aspirations and still meet responsibilities to ourselves and our families. In addition to traditional full- or part-time employment, we offer a flextime option designed to accommodate nontraditional schedules. Pillsbury’s flexible work arrangements/reduced hours program has evolved to include telecommuting (and the technology to make it work seamlessly), fixed hours, reduced hours and a “partial leave” program for attorneys who choose to step out of active practice for a period of time and want to remain associated with Pillsbury and our clients.
What is the firm's commitment to pro bono work and diversity?
Pillsbury’s values-driven culture is evident firmwide, from our commitment to pro bono and volunteer work to the diversity of our people—we are and have long been one of the most diverse and inclusive firms in the country. Building on this legacy, in 2007 we became one of the first U.S. firms to launch a formal Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative, which combines and enhances our existing programs for pro bono, diversity and inclusion, conservation and sustainability, charitable giving and community outreach.
Do lawyers here work mostly alone or as part of a team?
Pillsbury is organized around client teams and industries. Our teams bring together attorneys from different practice groups, perspectives and experience levels in a collaborative environment to meet the needs of our clients. Working as part of those teams, our junior lawyers gain exposure to more partners, more resources, more specialties and more challenges that play a key role in delivering solutions to our clients’ problems. There will still be detail work; it is part of the job. But right from the start, you’ll be taking on complex, sophisticated issues and engaging in the real action.