At Shearman & Sterling we believe that the key to being a successful lawyer in today's global economy is to continually hone your skills.  The firm has been a leader in providing extensive resources and programs to help our lawyers stay competitive and grow professionally, intellectually and personally.  At our firm, learning is a lifetime commitment.

Our Department of Professional Development and Training designs programs that offer ongoing specialized legal instruction, from corporate law and trial advocacy to global capital markets and banking.  These are combined with seminars and conferences in the professional development skills area, such as public speaking, time management, and business development.  Practice groups address specific legal topics while conferences bring together lawyers from a variety of our offices to discuss developments of importance to the firm.

The firm is an accredited provider of Continuing Legal Education (CLE) courses. Legal scholars from a variety of law and business schools, experts, industry professionals, and our own lawyers teach our programs.  We also encourage our lawyers to attend outside CLE programs, and to take advantage of the privileged memberships we have with a number of national and local CLE providers, including the Practicing Law Institute, and various bar associations. 

Beyond training programs, we believe in the value of mentoring to ensure that lawyers realize their full career potential.  Our mentoring program promotes interaction among partners and associates at all levels and facilitates an open-door policy to allow for frank discussion on all aspects of work and life at the firm.

In addition, our case assignment strategy is to produce well-rounded lawyers who can handle multidisciplinary issues and provide insightful service to clients.  To this end, our associates assume significant responsibility for client matters early in their careers, and many quickly develop direct relationships with clients.

Underlying all aspects of professional development is the informal professional guidance and evaluation given to attorneys on a regular basis by the partners with whom they work.  Formal evaluations are given twice a year, and associates have the opportunity to discuss their assessments with the evaluating partners.