Located in 21 financial capitals across the globe, Skadden attorneys advise clients on many of their most important and complex matters, the types of deals and cases that earn headlines, move markets and shape the law.
Working on such significant matters will accelerate your development, placing you ahead of the curve by preparing you with the breadth of knowledge necessary to understand clients’ business strategies and find solutions to their most challenging legal dilemmas. The experience gained and impact made at Skadden will create ripple effects that will last your entire career. Let’s begin to carve your path.
- A-List, 2023 — The American Lawyertop 10 most successful firms
- More overall awards at the New York Legal Awards than any other firm, 2023 — New York Law Journal
- Most Practice Groups of the Year among peer firms (90) since inception of awards (2010) — Law360
- Best Law Firms for Women, 2023 — Seramount
- Mansfield Rule Certified Plus, 2023 — Diversity Lab
A Culture of Lifelong Learning
Skadden provides attorneys with specialized training specifically tailored to their experience level throughout their careers — from summer associates to associates to partners to Skadden “alums.” Our training programs are designed to give our attorneys the skills, support and mentorship they need to work on our clients’ most complex challenges. Our training curriculum reflects our commitment to our most valuable assets — our attorneys.
- Junior associates participate in our full-time Associates’ Comprehensive Education (ACE) program, which provides Skadden-specific legal- and business-skills training during their first two months at the firm.
- Mid-level associates focus on client service, networking, finance, management and professional practice.
- Senior associates and counsel are provided opportunities to enhance their leadership skills, communication and presentation styles, client service abilities, mentoring, marketing and business development strategies, and networking efforts.
- Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is a core value of the firm, which we support with education and training at all experience levels. Workshop and lecture topics include racial equity, identifying and interrupting unconscious bias, leading inclusive teams, cross-cultural awareness and fostering belonging and allyship.
- Our Business Development Academy, for all attorneys, builds competencies essential for leveraging legal skills into internal and external opportunities. The programs focus on successful networking, deepening client relationships, and understanding, assessing and addressing client needs.
- Skadden alumni are invited to networking and reunion events and are offered CLE programs through the firm that assist them in maintaining their legal skills and empower them to advance throughout their careers.
- The firm recognizes that attorneys can further develop legal skills through involvement in nonbillable matters that support both Skadden and the communities we serve. The following efforts therefore also count toward the firm’s hours target:
- pro bonowork, without limit on total hours,
- “shadowing” senior attorneys, for junior associates up to 100 hours, and
- up to 150 nonbillable “productive hours” credit, which includes up to 50 hours for efforts to support our overall DEI, and recruiting activities.
- As our attorneys gain more exposure to their practices, many work with the firm’s career counselors and coaches, staffed both internally and externally, to strategize about their next steps. Whether associates choose to build their practices at Skadden, transition in-house with a client or to a federal agency, join a startup, or embark on something entirely different, the firm’s partners, coaches and counselors can serve as a tremendous resource.
Why Work Here?
At Skadden, you’ll work on the type of bet-the-company cases and deals that will be featured in future law school casebooks.
But don’t just take our word for it. Skadden is a veteran member of The American Lawyer’s A-List rankings of the “most successful” law firms, based on associate satisfaction, pro bono commitment, revenue per lawyer and diversity among lawyers.
Why else do associates enjoy working at Skadden?
- Benefits: The firm provides a variety of programs and benefits, such as parental leave (including a flexible maternity leave program), domestic partner health and tax gross-up benefits, backup child care, a reduced-hours program, a hybrid work policy, our Sidebar sabbatical program, discounted gym memberships, concierge services and technology allowances.
- Flexibility: With 21 offices around the world and more than 50 practice areas, Skadden maintains a global presence that affords us the ability to try to accommodate attorneys’ interests in transferring locations and practice areas to satisfy professional and personal interests.
- Professional development: In addition to our formal mentoring program, you’ll have day-to-day interactions with many of the leading attorneys in your field. Our Attorney Development Partners and Training Committees ensure that associates receive relevant training and mentoring at all levels. The firm’s Career Development Program offers career programming and counseling from internal and external resources, and notifies attorneys about professional opportunities with clients.
- Attorney Affinity Networks:Our affinity networks for attorneys who self-identify as women, people of color, LGBTQ+, military veterans and/or parents, and allies to those communities, facilitate relationship-building and provide an additional forum for professional and leadership development for associates and counsel. All of our affinity networks play a key role in the firm’s law student recruitment, attorney mentoring, career development, workplace inclusion and social responsibility objectives. The affinity networks are open to all attorneys who are interested in participating.
- Well-Being: Skadden is committed to creating a culture and tone that supports positive mental health and overall well-being. Our Live Well/Work Well platform offers robust resources and training that focus on four spheres: emotional, financial, physical and social. In addition, we are a signatory to the ABA Well-Being Pledge, highlighting our dedication to improving well-being not only within the firm but across the legal industry. The firm has dedicated resources to this priority with a dedicated global head of well-being.
Career Options: Limitless
While many of our attorneys spend their entire careers here, Skadden has served as a springboard for judges, professors, CEOs, general counsel, bankers, journalists, authors, prosecutors and senior members of federal agencies. Often, attorneys return to Skadden after gaining additional experience outside the firm, either through firm-organized externships or secondments, or through endeavors pursued on their own.
Our alumni network links more than 8,000 former Skadden attorneys who connect through our alumni website, online directory and Alumni Update magazine. The directory allows for professional and social networking. We also provide a Career Opportunities Program, where clients post job listings for alums.