Learning & Development

Our learning and development (L&D) function provides a wide range of structured legal and professional/business skills programs for lawyers throughout their career lifecycle. Our goal is to help our people learn and connect so they can best serve our clients, and build their careers at Reed Smith and beyond.

Reed Smith offers development programs at every level, from trainee or summer associate, to new, junior, mid-level, and senior associate, through to counsel and different partnership roles.

At Reed Smith, we know that to retain top talent and maintain our reputation for exceptional lawyering and client service, we must provide our people with first-rate opportunities for continuing learning and development. Our formal L&D program sits alongside and supports ongoing performance feedback, evaluations, mentoring programs, and secondment opportunities.

Highlights from our firmwide L&D program include:

Trainee L&D programs

Reed Smith offers trainees an extensive formal training program, along with practical and real-world experience, to provide a strong skills foundation that will benefit them throughout their career. Alongside “on-the-job” training and mentoring, the firm has designed a careful blend of workshops led by highly experienced practitioners that will enhance your technical development as a trainee, build knowledge and skills, and grow your confidence as well as your capability.

Our trainee program includes a comprehensive induction process, before moving on to seat rotations to gain valuable experience, supported throughout by our dedicated trainee academy. The academy helps trainees to develop the skills that they will need to become a successful lawyer at Reed Smith. A wide variety of tailored courses are also available on demand through our industry-leading Reed Smith Campus learning management system.

Junior and early mid-level associates

Our junior and early mid-level associates attend our global, three-year, and iterative curriculum for early career lawyers, called Associate Advantage.

Associate Advantage emphasizes the crucial role of personal connections and professional relationships in building career satisfaction and success. The program helps associates form connections with one another and with leaders within the firm. The program regularly includes firm clients and alumni as faculty, along with Reed Smith leaders and top external presenters.

Associate Advantage includes programs on these topics:

Legal skills

• Research strategies
• Essentials of effective legal writing, and one-on-one writing coaching
• Basic concepts in drafting contracts, and experiential contract-drafting “boot camp”
• Persuasive writing for litigators, experiential brief-writing “boot camp,” and deposition skills workshop
• Negotiations workshops
• GenAI hands-on clinic

Professional/Business skills

• Communicating with impact, and one-on-one presentation coaching
• Personal branding
• Networking and professional relationship-building
• Crafting and delivering your “elevator pitch”
• Personal and group productivity
• Financial acumen experiential workshop
• Law firm economics
• Matter planning and pricing
• Delegation skills
• Understanding your own and others’ leadership and work styles
• Client service alumni panel
• Career Footprints podcast, featuring discussions with our alumni about their rich and varied career paths

Mid-level and senior associates

Our mid-level and senior associates are invited to attend our experiential legal skills workshops, our client development and leadership skills cohort programs, and our senior associate conference. These include programs on the following topics:

Legal skills workshops

• Trial Training, a multi-day, hands-on workshop culminating in mock trials, to practice the skills that more senior associates need as they begin to participate in, and ultimately lead, high-stakes litigation. Held biennially.
• Deal Clinic, a multi-day, hands-on workshop, including experiential learning on complex transaction negotiation and execution, to practice the skills that more senior associates need as they begin to participate in, and ultimately lead, complex global business and financial transactions. Held biennially.

Professional/Business skills cohort programs and conference

• Senior Associate Leadership, a six-month cohort program covering motivating teams, using feedback to improve performance, and expanding personal influence.
• Senior Associate Client Development, a three-month cohort program focused on pitching your practice, preparing for in-person events, and effectively engaging with your professional network.
• Senior Associate Conference, a three-day program focused on career planning, and the path to promotion or finding success in a role outside the firm.

New counsel and partner programs, including lateral partners

Our newly promoted counsel and partners attend respective multi-month programs focused on understanding expectations, and how their contribution is assessed, in their new leadership positions. These programs also include sessions on personal business and career planning, and one-on-one or group coaching.

We also offer high-performer programs to small groups of newly promoted counsel and partners. Lateral partners joining Reed Smith are also encouraged to join. Participants in these programs create and pursue personal business and career development plans. They also attend instructional programs on topics related to the firm’s business and strategy, and have access to one-on-one and group coaching.