Finnegan’s Way

May 1st, 2013 / By Deborah J. Merritt

Finnegan, one of the world’s largest IP firms, is willing to invest in future lawyers. The firm is paying 100% of law school tuition for staff members who want to earn a law degree. The staff members work as part-time “student associates” while in law school; the firm bills their time at lower rates.

A visit to Finnegan’s site reveals that the firm currently employs thirty-eight of these student associates. I didn’t check every bio, but most of the future lawyers have science degrees and currently work on patent applications. They are enrolled in every D.C. law school (where Finnegan is headquartered), as well as at a range of schools in other cities that host Finnegan offices. Those include Boston, Atlanta, and San Francisco.

Finnegan’s program has two important implications for law schools. First, of course, it’s welcome news that talented professionals are enrolling in law school; it’s even more striking that an employer is paying for their legal education. Finnegan’s investment lends support to the idea that legal training could have special value for professionals employed in related fields–especially if they are able to keep working while in law school.

I’ve suggested before that law schools should implement more flexible degree programs, ones that support concurrent professional employment. The Finnegan policy seems to support that idea. Even if other employers aren’t willing to pay for their employees’ law school tuition, they might be willing to adapt that employee’s work schedule to accommodate law school classes. Professionals in law-related fields may be a modestly growing source of students for law schools.

Second, however, Finnegan’s approach may place further pressure on the traditional college-to-law-school-to-firm route of entering corporate law practice. Finnegan has 38 of its talented scientists, who have already worked with the firm’s lawyers and clients, enrolled in law school. With that type of talent in the pipeline, will the firm continue hiring as many conventional associates?

Equally important, what if corporate clients adopt Finnegan’s way for themselves? Companies could send senior compliance managers, financial analysts, and others to law school, hoping that a cadre of law-trained managers will reduce their need for outside counsel. These managers would provide a new pool of promising law students, but might further reduce hiring at the companies’ outside law firms.

It’s hard to predict the math on this, but I would take Finnegan’s program as a useful signal for law schools. To keep up with the twenty-first century market, law schools may need to focus more heavily on educating professionals who work in related fields and who continue that work throughout law school. If we value those students and accommodate them, we might tap a new pool of applicants. And, if legal work continues to shift from law firms to corporations, we would at least keep up with that movement.