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Complex Business Litigation | Government Enforcement | Intellectual Property | Securities The Litigation Department is the second largest department in the firm, with almost 300 lawyers focusing on trial practice. To help you understand our practice, we present below the answers to Frequently Asked Questions. While our clients' matters bring us in touch with nearly every substantive field of law, five particular practice areas are especially active: Complex Business Litigation, Government Enforcement, Intellectual Property, and Securities. In each of these areas, our associates play leading roles in the work we do.
More than half of our work in the Litigation Department comes from clients who retain Ropes & Gray exclusively or primarily for litigation; the balance is for regular clients of other departments of the firm. This exceptional mix means that litigators develop their practices based on a combination of work from litigation clients and the remarkable diversity of cases that arise from the leading business practices of our other departments, such as private equity and investment management. |
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| How
are we organized? The Litigation Department is headed by three partners. There are several principal practice areas within the Litigation Department. Descriptions of each of these practice areas can be accessed by clicking on the links shown below. Complex Business Litigation Government Enforcement Intellectual Property Securities |
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| Do
litigators practice in more than one area? While there is no requirement of doing so, most lawyers in the department do practice in more than one area. In particular, we encourage junior lawyers to develop a broad base of knowledge by taking assignments from a variety of practice areas at the outset of their careers. After they have been practicing for two years, associates have the opportunity to concentrate their practice in a particular area, but are not required to. Associates who choose to concentrate in a particular practice area can expect to do most of their work in that area, subject to the needs of the department in staffing the broad variety of litigation matters that our clients bring to us. |
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| How do new associates choose what area(s) to practice in? New associates with an interest in trial practice are actively encouraged to take on assignments from a variety of the department's many practice areas. As they gain experience, associates begin to develop preferences and may elect to specialize in a given practice area. In making these decisions, associates are encouraged to speak regularly with department heads and practice group leaders about their career goals and professional development. |
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| Are associates required to rotate through practice areas? No. In contrast to an assignment system that requires junior associates to spend a fixed amount of time working exclusively in one practice area, we have a flexible assignment system that allows associates to work on projects from several different practice areas at the same time or, if they wish, to focus for an extended time on working in a particular practice area.
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| How
are work assignments distributed? Jeanne Curtis and Rob Jones, two of the three partners who head up the Litigation Department, coordinate the litigation work assignment process for all offices and all practice areas. All associates, using an electronic assignment system, apprise Jeanne and Rob of what they are working on, and whether they can take on additional projects. Based on that information, Jeanne and Rob are able to respond to requests for associate assistance from partners and senior associates. In distributing work assignments, Jeanne and Rob try to ensure that each associate has an opportunity to work primarily on assignments from his or her preferred practice area(s) and that work assignments are spread as evenly as possible among associates. |
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| Do
associates have an opportunity to work with different partners? Yes. In contrast to a system where associates work for only one partner, we have a flexible system that enables associates to work on projects for different partners in different practice areas in different cities at the same time. We believe it is important for junior litigators to work with and learn from many different partners because it helps them in developing their own distinct approach to trial work. |
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| How much partner contact and client contact will I have as a junior associate? A significant amount of both. The Litigation Department has a ratio of roughly two associates to each partner. Except on very large matters, our associates typically work directly with partners and frequently participate in client meetings and interface directly with clients. Moreover, because we routinely staff matters across offices, junior associates have the opportunity to work with the full range of Ropes & Gray partners, and for the full breadth of the Ropes & Gray client base. |
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| What is the range of projects I can expect in my first year? Because there is no prescribed combination of projects to be assigned to first-year associates who have expressed an interest in the Litigation Department, and because the department strives to accommodate the expressed practice area interests of each litigation-oriented first-year associate, there is a wide variation in the projects that associates are assigned during their first year. Nonetheless, to give students an idea of the types of projects that they might encounter in their first year, we have listed below the actual projects that three litigation associates worked on during their first year at Ropes & Gray. |
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| How do you make sure that I won't get "lost in the shuffle" in such a big department? The Litigation Department understands this concern and has numerous structures in place to ensure that all associates participate meaningfully and successfully in the department's practice. A large percentage of matters are staffed with just two or three lawyers — one partner and one or two associates. These small teams promote the informal mentoring and practical training that we believe develop talented law students into seasoned trial lawyers. |
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The informal mentoring and training that is generated by our team-based approach is supplemented by other support structures:
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| What sort of formal training will I get to supplement the courses I took in law school? | |||||||||
The Litigation Department offers a highly practical and hands-on training program that begins upon a new associate's arrival and continues over the ensuing months. The program's overall objective is to arm new associates with a variety of basic skills that they likely did not learn in law school, so they can hit the ground running in serving our clients. The opening phase of the program is a focused litigation “training camp” during the first week of practice. Through a combination of seminars, practical tips sessions and workshops, new associates learn and practice core litigation skills.
The training camp is designed to get new associates “on their feet” — drafting, presenting arguments, and exchanging ideas with their classmates and senior colleagues from all of the firm's offices. The same holds true for the subsequent phases of the first-year litigation training program. For example, later in the first year, new associates participate in a deposition workshop, where they learn bread-and-butter techniques in handling this important part of any case, and then practice examining and defending witnesses. |
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Supplementing the core skills training, first-year litigation associates participate in a Practical Skills series designed to help bridge the gap from law school to private practice. Experienced litigators lead sessions on such topics as working with partners, maintaining litigation files, writing first drafts, and other important practical subjects. By structuring the department's training for new associates in this fashion, we break down geographical boundaries, actively promote information sharing across offices to mirror how our cases are staffed, and engage a large number of senior members of the department in conveying to younger litigators the firm's values and attitudes as well as lessons learned from experience.
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After the third year, associates participate in intensive trial training through NITA and MCLE, and they are eligible for a rotating six-month assignment as a Special Assistant District Attorney in Middlesex County, in which they prosecute criminal matters through bench and jury trials on behalf of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
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