Attorneys: Associates
Baird Holm seeks as associates men and women whose prior endeavors and personal qualities demonstrate the potential to become outstanding lawyers and to participate meaningfully in the community. The records of prospective associates should reflect excellent academic qualifications and achievements. In addition, the firm emphasizes initiative, imagination, integrity and maturity. The firm's members maintain cordial personal relationships and strive to avoid the impersonal atmosphere that sometimes prevails in a larger law firm. For this reason, it is of utmost importance that each associate and summer associate possess the personal qualities that will enable him or her to work effectively and enjoyably with the other members of the firm and with its clients. Baird Holm is always interested in reviewing the resumes of qualified individuals. If you are interested in an associate position at Baird Holm, please send a resume and cover letter to Grayson Derrick, 1500 Woodmen Tower, Omaha, Nebraska, 68102.
Life at Baird Holm
As a Baird Holm associate, your career can grow as fast as you determine. We do not place artificial restraints on career paths or the areas of law in which your practice can grow. You won't be lost in the crowd.
Each associate has a supervising partner, and begins his or her career in one practice group. Your supervisor will be your mentor, and assist you in learning the law. We don't treat our work as a "commodity" at Baird Holm or your role in the process as that of an assembly line worker, which means that you will truly learn how to practice law…and how to develop business…and how to balance your career and your life outside of the Firm.
Baird Holm associates are required to bill 1,850 hours a year, which leaves plenty of time to develop areas of interest outside of the Firm. We work hard, but we also maintain a strong sense of family and community. We hire new lawyers with the expectation that if they perform excellent work, they can make partner. This is not done on a "numbers game." We welcome new partners after 6 1/2 years of practice with the Firm.
Our associates have real client contact, and develop the skills to solve complex legal problems early in their careers. Our associates also play important roles in shaping the future of the Firm -- there is an associate seat on the recruiting committee, and management's doors (and the doors in all the corner offices) are always open.
Associate Compensation/Benefits
Compensation of the members of the firm, at all levels of experience and professional achievement, compares favorably with that of other attorneys in this region. In 2008, new associates with no previous experience as practicing attorneys will begin work with the firm at a salary of $80,000. Associates joining the firm following one year of judicial clerkship will begin work at a salary of $81,000. Associates with two years of judicial clerkship will begin work at a salary of $82,000.
Baird Holm pays a substantial portion of an associate's individual health insurance. The firm also provides life insurance, long-term disability insurance, a 401(k) plan, and contributes to a retirement plan for all employees. Benefits extend to dependents and domestic partners. Those benefits are, of course, subject to eligibility requirements and qualifications set forth in plan documents. The firm also pays for the cost of bar review courses and bar exam fees for attorneys joining the firm immediately after law school.
The firm is committed to providing training and supervision of associates and continuing education for all attorneys. The program begins with orientation on the date of arrival and continues until the associate becomes a partner (and beyond). At Baird Holm, lawyer training consists of CLE materials, in-house programs for all associates, one-on-one supervision on individual projects, and carefully selected outside programs that respond to the associate's stage of development and training needs. All attorneys are encouraged to attend continuing legal education institutes in areas of their particular interest at firm expense.