Training of associates. Everyone agrees it’s critical. But all too often, it’s left to happenstance. As I have discussed before, happenstance training often penalizes women and people of color. Older white partners gravitate toward younger versions of themselves when making assignments that serve as training.
Even beyond that, a “luck of the draw” training approach is pretty dumb, given the tight labor market.
Of course, some firms attempt to create training programs. But all too often, they are run by partners who would rather work on billable matters. And let’s face it, lawyers are trained to be teachers/trainers. Another option is to rely on videos. Also ineffective
Yet another approach is to require associates to go to fancy training programs put on by outside entities. These programs are expensive and time-consuming.
Enter AltaClaro. AltaClaro is an online, hands-on law firm training provider. It combines the need for associates to learn from life-like simulations with feedback from experienced attorneys skilled at training. And it’s all done online.
According to AltaClaro, “AltaClaro is the leading provider of interactive, experiential legal training. Our unique learn-by-doing and feedback model helps learners become practice-ready more quickly. It empowers participants from the world’s top law firms, corporations, and law schools to own their career trajectories while assisting enterprises to drastically reduce training costs.”
I talked recently at some length with the co-founder of AltaClaro, Abdi Shayestheh. Shayestheh is an interesting guy. He founded his first company at 17, selling clothing to fraternities and sororities. He sold the company, went to law school, and founded a fintech company. He sold that and went to work for Big Law.
He quickly realized that law school hadn’t really taught him very much about the practice of law. He also realized