Professional Development

Our commitment to training runs through every aspect of the firm — from our hiring approach and our in-house training programs, to our client services committee and our shareholder structure. And our commitment to career development begins when you first arrive as a summer associate. Here's how it works:

It Starts With Hiring

If we extend an offer to you, we believe you can eventually become a shareholder in the firm. This long-term investment strategy requires an ongoing commitment to multi-dimensional training to give you the skills and opportunities necessary to grow from a summer associate into a shareholder.

Formal Training

We run a complete series of introductory and advanced classes geared to the different stages of your career development.

Summer Associates take part in a number of structured courses designed to introduce you to the practice of intellectual property law at Wolf Greenfield:

  • At the beginning of the summer, you will take a two-day seminar on essential aspects of intellectual property to ground you in the basics of patent, trademark, copyright, and other IP law.
  • As the summer progresses, you will also participate in a number of other courses and meetings including:
    • A bi-weekly lecture & discussion series, led by various Shareholders, which will provide you with a more in-depth understanding of different IP practice areas, such as litigation, patent prosecution, law firm management, etc. This series gives you detailed "on the ground" information and gives you a chance to learn directly from practice group leaders, the firm's Executive Director, and others.
    • David Wolf's "How to Think Like a Lawyer" program. This course is always a favorite of our Summer Associates. During this course David Wolf will introduce you to the daily work of being an attorney and how the practice of law often involves thinking far beyond that taught in law school. You'll come out of this course with a much better understanding of the day-to-day of being an IP lawyer.
  • The firm's Federal Circuit Case Review Program. This program will give you a chance to join other firm professionals in a bi-weekly Friday lunch to review and analyze important decisions from the federal court with exclusive jurisdiction over patent appeals. This program is one of many ways the firm stays current with the many changes in IP law. At the end of the summer, you will have the chance to present a case for review.
  • Attorney lunches. These bi-weekly Monday lunches feature speakers on a variety of topics including clients from cutting edge technologies, legal education speakers on developments on IP law, or firm personnel on topics such as practice points, marketing efforts, or firm happenings.

Informal Training

Of course, even with all the formal training we offer, the informal training and hands on-experience you get working directly with other professionals on client matters and practice development will be the basis for a majority of your learning opportunities.

  • Working one-on-one with Shareholders, Associates, and Technology Specialists on specific client projects will show you how tasks come into the firm, how they are handled internally, and how our work then gets delivered to a client. You'll learn how a call from a client results in a patent application, how you prepare a response to an office action from the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and how a motion or pleading gets drafted and filed in federal court. You'll find those with whom you work will check in with you often to offer guidance, answer questions, or discuss ideas for different options or strategies for the case at hand. Listen to Shareholder, Bob Abrahamsen, talk about the training he got as a summer associate. Get the Flash Player to see this player.
  • Practice group meetings. These meetings, scheduled by the individual practice groups, include training directed to aspects of IP practice important to the particular practice group such as developments in biotechnology law or changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

Continuing Training

If you are offered a full-time position with the firm upon law school graduation, the offer will include enrollment in a review course to prepare for the Massachusetts Bar Examination (as well as reimbursement for the exam itself).

Finally, while much of the training above continues after law school, full-time employees also have access to other training programs including outside CLE courses (such as Patent Bar Review) or internal training for more senior professionals (such as licensing and IP agreements, opinion writing, client relations, etc.).