In January, half a dozen new law school graduates hung their own shingles and opened practices in an office suite on Brickell Avenue in the heart of Miami’s financial district.
Less than a year later, all six firms are operating in the black. The young practitioners are also becoming well-versed in ethical and professional standards central to practicing law and in their responsibilities to the public as members of the profession.
Traditionally, new law school graduates take jobs with established law firms or clerkships with judges to learn those skills not taught in law schools — how to actually practice law and run a firm. But many of those opportunities for new lawyers have dried up in the past two decades, and the economic downturn has accelerated that trend in recent years.
Mirroring similar components of a medical school residency and a business school entrepreneurial incubator, FIU's LawBridge Program targets recent graduates seeking to establish their own firms.