Incubators Provide Stepping Stones for Young Lawyers

• Jurisdiction: California,United States
• Citation: Vol. 04 No. 2016 Pg. 01
• Publication year: 2016
• Pages: 01
• Year: 2016
• topic: Business of Law

Incubators provide stepping stones for young lawyers No. 2016 #01 California Bar Journal April, 2016

John Roemer, Special to the Bar Journal.

James-Phillip V.M. Anderson was a rookie with a law degree, a bar card and underwhelming job prospects last year when he joined one of California's new attorney incubator programs.

The Northern California Lawyer Access' Law Practice Academy in Nevada City offered him mentoring and hands-on experience. Then came the break he'd hoped for: Anderson's work on a hotly litigated child custody case impressed the veteran family law practitioner opposing him so much that she offered him a job - and then handed over the keys to her Nevada City office.

"It's right across the street from the courthouse. She started referring clients to me," Anderson said in mid-March. "Now I'm taking over the lease. And my sign goes up next week."

That lawyer, Jayne Kelly Nordstrom, said she was tired of her long commute from the San Francisco Bay Area and wanted to spend more time with her local clients. Nordstrom said Anderson's hard work earned her respect.

"He's a rising star," Nordstrom said. "I could see at once here was a young lawyer with a brain and common sense.... I've referred about six cases to him."

Fledgling lawyers like Anderson are getting guidance from veteran attorneys through incubator programs across the state, some funded with grants from the State Bar and California Commission on Access to Justice. The role of incubators is to give new attorneys real-world experience, as well deliver badly needed legal services to moderate- and low-income clients.

Anderson is enthusiastic about having been in the inaugural class of his incubator program at a time when the job market for new lawyers continues to be bleak in many parts of the state.

"I joined the [Law Practice] Academy because it seemed to be a good opportunity to advance myself faster and network with other new solo attorneys," he said. "The face of the law is changing. It's not all big highfalutin' attorneys making all this money. A lot of us are sole proprietors working with real folks."

Liza Zakour feels the same way. She was in the Los Angeles Incubator Consortium's first class, which she joined soon after passing the bar. A Syrian American training to work with immigrants, Zakour once encountered an older Syrian couple in immigration court. They appeared frightened and confused, so Zakour approached them and communicated in Arabic...