Recruiting
McDonald Hopkins embraces a client-focused and proactive culture that represents a departure from the rigid, hierarchical structures favored by many large law firms. From a recruiting perspective, that means that we hire intelligent, driven people and then provide them the training and resources to develop their practices in areas of law they enjoy. We also hire people we like, people we believe will be invigorated by our mission and core values. We know that teamwork is the best way to provide exceptional client service and create a fun place to work.
We simply believe that if people enjoy what they do and like where they work, they will work hard, do their jobs well, and the firm will succeed. This approach has worked for us, as the firm continues to have impressive growth.
Our entrepreneurial approach translates to our new associate hiring, lateral recruiting, and summer program candidates. We are looking for well-rounded people who seek a dynamic work environment and subscribe to our core values: Integrity; Client Service; Teamwork; Entrepreneurship; and Quality of Life. We created a vibrant workplace where merit counts and you have many opportunities to grow and thrive. We encourage our attorneys to grow as fast as their abilities will let them. You will hit the ground running because we provide immediate exposure to substantive matters and reward success.
Associates and Lateral Hires
Talented attorneys are critical to achieving our goals. Character, leadership, exuberance and academic/professional achievement are all important. We look for bright, creative, ambitious attorneys who are fully committed to exceeding the expectations of our valued clients.
Summer Program
Our goal is to give summer associates a realistic view of what life is like at McDonald Hopkins. Therefore, we do not have a set rotation through different departments or a specific set of summer associate assignments. Rather we encourage attorneys in different practice areas to work directly with summer associates. Similarly, we encourage summer associates to seek out the types of work they are interested in directly from our attorneys.
Training
We have a strong in-house training program designed to help attorneys continue to develop their skills. Most training in core legal skills is done at the departmental or practice group level (such as annual litigation seminars from the National Institute of Trial Advocacy), while our firm-wide associate practice forums focus on areas such as development of attorney business plans, general client service, and associate business development.