Is it Disrespectful to Send an Associate to Court? Maybe Not.

In the article, “Is it Disrespectful to Send an Associate to Court? Maybe Not.” featured in Corporate Counsel, attorneys discussed whether or not it was disrespectful for a law firm to send an associate to federal court in Brooklyn, New York, to represent a big client, in this case Facebook Inc., to a pretrial conference unaccompanied by partners?

Steve Bernstein weighed in on the question.

He said that, at least from a professional development standpoint, more often than not partners are getting criticized for not giving associates enough responsibility and time in court rather than too much.

Steve said that he has let associates take a bigger role before when he thought it was appropriate, although it has depended on the complexity of the case at hand. “Think about it this way: all partners were associates once in their lives,” he said.

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