Professional Development at Reed Smith US

Mentoring and Professional Development at Reed Smith monitors the progress of minority attorneys in its pipeline to ensure that they are on track toward crystallizing their career objectives, developing the required skills necessary to succeed, and receiving the mentorship and sponsorship needed to fulfil their aspirations.

The firm focuses a great deal of time and resources on mentoring and on the professional development of our diverse attorneys.

The firm also has a systematic approach in the form of our global CareeRS program that it follows year after year to ensure the strong professional development of all of our attorneys to improve the diversity of our firm. The CareeRS program is administered by our Head of Personnel, and in collaboration with members of the senior management team and the Director of Global D&I, and is a comprehensive, competency-based program, complete with direct partner mentorship, that opens the pathway for all of our associates to develop the skills they must have to meet client needs and to succeed in their careers – qualities that we believe help to increase retention of our diverse talent.

The CareeRS program is further bolstered by the assignment of informal career advisors through our D&I Initiative and WINRS programs, in addition to the implementation of “PipelineRS,” a program designed to track the development and advancement of our women attorneys. PipelineRS are female associates who have been practicing for four years or more and for whom partnership is a goal.

Our WINRS team works with senior management to determine the practical steps associates must take in order to position themselves for partnership, then works with individual PipelineRS to provide them with mentors, sponsors, training or opportunities, depending on individual need. As a result of this program, the percentage of new partners who are women has nearly doubled in the past three years. Through these pipeline initiatives of our D&I and WINRS programs, minority and women attorneys learn early what they will need to succeed. This has resulted in increased retention in the mid-level associate ranks, which makes for a more robust pipeline to partnership.