Kirkland Holds Basic Training Academy for New Transactional Associates
More than 170 first-year transactional associates participated in Kirkland & Ellis' Basic Training Academy (BTA) last month. The annual immersive learning experience provides new Kirkland associates with early exposure to a variety of client assignments and on-the-job experience, and reinforces both the skills and behaviors that are essential to achieving success within the Firm and to providing world-class client service.
BTA consists of practice-specific discussions as well as team and skill-building activities led by Kirkland partners. Associates learn topics such as the life cycle of a deal, project management, and how to effectively leverage technology and build business acumen. More than 35 senior attorneys from Kirkland’s offices apprenticed the new associates in a fully online format. Associates left BTA with more clarity into Kirkland’s culture and practice group expectations, and the context of their work. One first-year associate reported enjoying hearing “strategies to approach initial workflow and how to communicate effectively,” while another noted that the most valuable thing they learned is how to add value in this new virtual environment.
“Consistent with our guiding tenet of empowering our youth, we continue to invest heavily in training programs designed to cultivate a substantive skill set in our junior lawyers that is advanced well beyond their legal peers, and enable them to take on outsized transactional responsibilities throughout their careers,” said transactional partner Leo Greenberg, who participated in BTA this year.
BTA supports the growth of the next generation of exceptional deal lawyers and reflects the Firm’s position in the marketplace. Kirkland has the largest deal flow of any law firm, ranking first each of the last 10 years on Mergermarket’s League Tables of Legal Advisors to Global M&A for private equity buyouts by deal count in the United States and globally. For more information about BTA, visit the Legal Education & Development page.
