Build your big career with the Firm that does Big Law better. McDermott Will & Emery is a leading global law firm that brings together more than 1,400 lawyers and 1,200 business professionals. We celebrate excellence, collaboration and community and have been recognized as a top workplace by The American Lawyer, Working Mother Magazine, Vault and the Human Rights Campaign.
At McDermott, we don’t just invest in your future, we accelerate your career – wherever it may lead. That includes supporting you both in and outside of the office, withour attornesysceieving personalized guidance, structured mentorship and confidentital career coaching.
With us, you’ll find:
As part of our ongoing commitment to be #AlwaysBetter for our people, clients and communities, we have created a culture of belonging that champions your individuality as both a person and a professional. From our competitive compensation, top benefits and award-winning professional development programs to industry-leading wellness initiatives, we support you through every stage of your life and career. With McDermott, you can live a life you love both in and outside of the office.
We offer a variety of substantive and educational training opportunities to our summer associates through the McDermott University Summer Academy. These programs are supplemented by departmental training opportunities, as well as hands-on experiences such as court appearances, client meetings, depositions, legislative hearings, witness interviews, and bar association events.
Summer Program
Students looking for a firm that encourages them to be their authentic selves while becoming indispensable to clients should look no further than McDermott. One of the fastest growing firms in the AmLaw 25, we give our summer associates the opportunity to do meaningful work. As part of our program, summers can gain experience in multiple practice groups, which helps them identify areas of specialty they enjoy. We pair each summer with a mentor(s) who oversee their contributions and provide practical advice about transitioning from law school to life in a law firm. In addition to this informal coaching, our summers receive formal feedback at the program midpoint and conclusion. At McDermott, diversity, inclusion, wellness, and community involvement are regarded just as highly as client service, and summers also experience the firm’s commitment to those values.
0L / 1L Hiring
As part of McDermott’s longstanding commitment to promoting a more equitable & inclusive law firm, we are proud to offer our 1L Inclusion Fellowship Program.
For the 2024 Summer Program, the Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and Washington D.C. offices hired 1L students through this fellowship program.
Additionally, as part of our participation in the SEO Law Fellowship program, we will be hosting two 0Ls in our Los Angeles and New York offices.
Professional Development
The Professional Development (PD) department supports the Firm’s commitment to excellence and career acceleration.. At McDermott, we offer our associates a holistic culture of learning that is supported by Firm leadership, partners, and staff professionals. We offer Firmwide and practice group training, coaching and career planning, a robust mentoring program, mock-style interactive programs, associate development resources, and programming around wellness. We provide traditional classroom-style training, as well as intensive interactive training for litigation, health, and transactional associates. The Firm uses outside vendors to supplement its internal training for many core skills topics, as described below. PD offered 400+ substantive training programs in2023, with a more curated slate of programming scheduled for 2024.
The PD department supports the Firm’s on-boarding and integration efforts. Each year, PD conducts an orientation and integration program for new and lateral associates. We provide practical information and integration advisors to ease the transition from law student to lawyer, and conduct individual outreach to all lateral associates during their first few weeks with the Firm.
PD also facilitates Firm-wide mentoring, group cohort meetings, and a variety of core skills programs to enhance an attorney’s writing skills, project management, business development, professional presence, leadership, and other professional lawyering skills. We also couple individual coaching opportunities with many of these core skills programs focused on topics such as productivity, writing, and presence and presentation skills. Since 2018, we have offered a robust wellness focused curriculum to our lawyers and staff professionals, with a broad spectrum of programming. We provide all Firm partners and employees with a subscription to a meditation app.
The Firm gives billable equivalent credit for a variety of activities focused on investing in associates’ career and well-being. The firm allows associates to earn 25 hours of billable equivalent credit for mindfulness-related activities, including attending internal wellness programs hosted by the firm and individual mindfulness practice.
Associates can also earn up to 75 billable equivalent “PD” hours. This includes “tag along” training activities when shadowing a partner, such as attending negotiation sessions, closings, property tours, client meetings, depositions, and court hearings, and participating in interactive skills trainings. PD hours can also include preparing practice group newsletters or seminar materials, presenting or publishing articles, speaking engagements for client, industry, and/or professional audiences, and participating in substantive knowledge management projects.
In addition, PD facilitates Continuing Legal Education (CLE) efforts, a professional development library, external training opportunities, and career planning tools, including our annual Associate Development Plan.
Pro Bono & Commuity Service
McDermott Will & Emery recognizes and appreciates the need to give back to the communities of which it is a part and to assist those who are unable to afford legal services.
We strongly encourage our lawyers and staff to participate in pro bono initiatives, volunteer services and charitable activities, and we recognize lawyer time dedicated to pro bono and community service as equivalent to billable hours for all purposes.
The people of McDermott Will & Emery understand their unique obligation and professional responsibility as lawyers to help those in need, and we are committed to ensuring that low-income and disadvantaged individuals have access to justice.
