Initiatives and Resources

Learning does not stop when you start your career at K&L Gates. In fact, it is just starting. We are committed to your ongoing professional development so that you can achieve your greatest potential, whether you are a first-year associate or a seasoned partner.

With the help of our senior management team, we have created a comprehensive approach that cultivates, strengthens, and refines your skills for success.

Formal Professional Development Opportunities - Substantive Continuing Legal Education

We want to help our lawyers succeed, whether you are just getting started in your career or have been working in the industry for some time. Law students make the transition to skilled practitioners through foundational programs designed specifically for first-year associates. More senior lawyers are provided with relevant and timely opportunities to sharpen the necessary skills for continued advancement. Programming focuses on substantive areas of law including corporate, litigation and dispute resolution, intellectual property, financial services, policy and regulatory, real estate, and ethics and professionalism. Through our live local programs and firmwide videoconferences, we showcase the talent, diversity, and experience of our lawyers across the globe. And in the United States because K&L Gates is an accredited CLE provider in several states, you may satisfy the requirements of mandatory CLE jurisdictions through our extensive schedule of in-house training programs.

High-Impact Experiential Programming and Whole Person Development

We believe in developing the whole person and training beyond substantive legal skills. We are thrilled to offer impactful, experiential workshop programming on subjects including presentation skills and developing your executive presence, business development, advanced legal writing, trial skills and advocacy, managing your practice and lawyering skills, and so much more. Examples of these programs include:

• Business Development Science Fair
  A unique, creative, and fun way for associates to present innovative business development ideas in a “science fair” format with the goal of enhancing partner interaction and idea-sharing, showcasing creative ways to develop business and provide a new perspective on business development.
• Mastermind
  A business development and entrepreneurship program in which lawyers form “Mastermind Groups” to help achieve their highest business development and career goals by way of tangible, measured steps.
• Mini-MBA
  A program developed to orient associates to business and financial concepts in an engaging and immersive way, and help them understand the goals and concerns of clients and how associates can add value.
• Pitch Perfect
  A real-world pitch scenario program that is designed to train associates in best practices when tasked with participating in a pitch team. Associates will have a finite amount of time to prepare to pitch themselves, their team, their colleagues, and the firm more globally to a prospective client.
• TED[style] Talks
  A multisession experiential program that includes interactive lectures and individual and small group presentations to help associates hone their communication and executive presence skills.

Our Professional Development team is continuously developing new and innovative programming to ensure our lawyers receive the training they need when they need it.

Informal Professional Development Opportunities

Developing your skills outside of formal programs is important too. We help foster your growth by providing high quality and diverse work assignments and giving meaningful feedback and supervision on an ongoing basis. Our senior lawyers are considered informal mentors who not only promote excellence, but demonstrate it on a daily basis by sharing work experiences and collaborating with other lawyers. These mutually beneficial relationships exist across all generations of the firm.

Mentoring

It is essential to build long-term relationships among our lawyers—that is why mentoring at K&L Gates is so important. The firm’s seasoned lawyers are proud to work with associates to convey our culture, work ethic, and values. They serve as valuable resources to help you transform your academic training into a rewarding and stimulating legal career.

Mentors will provide:

• Guidance on work assignments and workload
• Help with developing a professional network
• Guidance on managing clients to build a successful practice
• Assistance in selecting the right training and CLE opportunities
• Counsel on your career and work/life balance
• Advice on navigating firm culture
• Tips on collaborating with partners and support staff

Lateral Integration Program

If you join us as a lateral associate, you will be assigned to a Lateral Integration Team, which includes a partner advisor, peer advisor, and an HR advisor. This team will help design and implement a structured onboarding and orientation, facilitate regular interaction with practice group members and office leadership, and provide guidance on navigating the myriad of firm resources available.

Continuing Legal Education and Compliance

We make it easy to stay in compliance with your continuing legal education (CLE) requirements—covering expenses, assisting with registration, and monitoring earned credits. Our Global Online Learning Center provides easy access to recordings of prior in-house training programs from any computer at any time of the day or night. Plus, we have a Privileged Membership with the Practising Law Institute (PLI), a non-profit continuing legal education organization, and one of the world’s leading education providers. As PLI Privileged Members, firm lawyers are entitled to attend the majority of PLI programs for free, as well as view them via live webcasts, on-demand sessions, and downloadable MP3s. The K&L Gates HUB, available to anyone, anywhere, is an online industry resource that includes programming and continuing education to clients and industry professionals organized by sectors and subjects rather than practice areas.

Evaluation and Feedback 

You will receive all types of informal and formal feedback throughout your career, regardless of your experience level. Associates can expect annual performance reviews with a focus on identifying strengths, weaknesses, and areas for continued development.

Professional Activities

Several other activities can contribute to your professional development, including publishing, lecturing, participating in bar association activities, and serving in adjunct capacities at local law schools. You will find we strongly encourage and support participation in these types of activities.

We take your professional success personally. From providing a platform from which to raise your voices, to preparing you for partnership, we have created several programs of benefit to our associates.

Health Matters

We created the Health Matters initiative to center on the mental health and wellness of all K&L Gates personnel and is an expression by the firm that it is behind its lawyers, business teams, and staff members if and when they may need support. The key objectives of Health Matters are to foster a culture of awareness, acceptance, support, and well-being; strive to eliminate the stigma associated with seeking help with dependency and mental health-related challenges, and seek to provide tools to help improve the physical and emotional lives of our personnel.

Global Associate Liaison Committee

Even as a junior associate, your opinion matters. That’s why we created the Global Associate Liaison Committee (GALC). The GALC is composed of 19 associates from across the firm who serve as a global resource for associates to raise issues for discussion with the firm’s Management Committee. The GALC promotes cross-office associate communication and networking, and cultivates a common associate culture.

Global Associate Symposium

The annual Global Associate Symposium is another way for our associates to play an active role in the future of the firm. Members of the Global Associate Liaison Committee and select high-performing associates from across the globe join in leadership development programming designed to help them think imaginatively and work collaboratively on a variety of topics including growth mindset, design thinking, diversity & inclusion, well-being, and client growth, as well as have an opportunity to interact with the firm’s Management Committee and other senior leaders. We truly believe that by investing in our associates, we are investing in the firm.

Leadership College

The Leadership College is designed for newly elected and recent lateral partners and of counsel to gain a better understanding of how to be successful in their role as a partner at K&L Gates. This event features topics particularly relevant to new partners including firm finance and economics, legal project management, delegation and feedback skills for partners, and client development.  This program is held in conjunction with K&L Gates’ annual partner retreat.