Careers

When you are skilled at navigating through complex bodies of law — like employment, employee benefits and labor — you will be in demand. This demand will provide you great opportunities. Our generations of attorneys have seized those opportunities to build a nationally recognized firm while maintaining a unique internal atmosphere of curious and practical intellect. Our success is a result of our people and our future is only as good as the lawyer you turn out to be. That’s why we will provide you with training, education and open door access to experienced practitioners.

You will have significant responsibility, client contact and the ability to have a meaningful impact on the success of the firm at all stages of your career. We recognize the importance of developing leaders and fostering the social and entrepreneurial aspects of the law. You will receive competitive compensation and benefits based on your performance and contribution to the collective efforts of the firm. We will provide you with access to resources including technology, incentive to contribute to the community and the ability to maintain a balanced lifestyle.

Upward Momentum

Backed by generations of skilled professionals and institutional knowledge, Blitman & King is a law firm marching forward. We respect our past and are excited about our future. We have a niche, law practice and we strive to do it well. Our lawyers work hard, juggle multiple responsibilities and are exposed to a broad range of challenges. We attract enthusiastic, ambitious and bright practitioners.

Our upward momentum creates great opportunity for lawyers. At Blitman & King, there is an opportunity for associates to become partners earlier than associates at many large firms. The firm does not adhere to a rigid class system. We generally consider associates for partnership after six years with the firm. In addition, credit may be granted for clerkships, practice in other firms, or other relevant experience or education. Associates are individually evaluated based on their own performance. Our evaluation criteria include legal ability, productivity, client development, training and development, management and supervisory skills, internal relations with other lawyers and staff, and community activities.

Solid, Exceptional Lawyers

At Blitman & King, you'll find open doors leading to intelligent, unique and down-to-earth professionals that endorse the challenge of practicing law in a sophisticated way. We aim to provide clients with practical advice in specific complex areas of law. No more, no less. Our attorneys are accomplished, but approachable. We recognize that a successful career will require continued education and learning, expanded horizons and an unending commitment to achieve excellence.

Career Development

Lawyers learn by doing, but you will receive feedback from experienced partners and have open-door access to ask questions. To supplement your hands on experience, training and education will play a key part. We conduct in-house educational meetings where presentations are made and written materials are distributed. At the firm's expense, lawyers are also encouraged to participate in advanced or continuing education.

In addition, associates present at educational and client seminars. For decades our firm has held two annual seminars for clients and friends of the firm: a Labor Law Seminar and an ERISA and Employee Benefits Seminar. Our associates regularly present at these seminars, which includes an oral presentation as well as the preparation of a written memorandum. At these seminars we expose associates to firm clients and introduce all associates at the plenary session. We also encourage associates to develop topics and seminars for the firm to sponsor. We provide billable hour credit for all hours spent preparing for and presenting at seminars.

We encourage and fund our lawyers’ involvement in local, state and national bar association activities, including leadership positions.

Meaningful Impact

Your work will have meaningful impact on the success of the firm. You will be brought into matters early, and expected to work on all aspects of that matter through its conclusion. Here, associates are not cogs in a wheel and you will not be the third associate in line to review a document that you did not draft. You will have significant responsibility and client contact at all stages of your career. Our firm's partners have confidence in associates and treat them accordingly.

The upside of your opportunity is that the firm's clients will quickly become your clients. This means that when several projects are coming to a head at the same time, you won't be able to bow out of any of them because the client is relying on you. But it also means that clients think of you as their attorney, so it won't be long before they start coming to you directly for help.

Coordination

We operate and function as one firm and, while we enjoy the resources of a much larger firm, we are able to foster unity and camaraderie between our people across offices. Each Monday morning, for example, we have an attorney meeting to discuss pending matters including new business. In December, the firm hosts two annual holiday parties: a party for attorneys and staff, and a Saturday evening dinner party for attorneys and their spouses or significant others. In addition, each summer, we hold a firm picnic for all attorneys, staff and their family members.

We generally staff our matters in teams consisting of one or two partners and an associate. Our associates have direct contact with partners and work through complex issues with their guidance. It is normal business for associates to have face-to-face meetings with partners, even the most senior, to discuss legal problems and propose solutions. Partners provide invaluable feedback and freely share their experience and wisdom based on years of industry experience.

Business Development

hus•tler ˈhʌs lər [huhs-ler] –noun 1. an enterprising person determined to succeed; go-getter.

Mentoring a lawyer includes recognizing the importance of fostering the social and entrepreneurial aspects of the law. At a certain point in your career, you will have developed the technical skills and proficiency necessary to be a legal practitioner. Associates who are able to use these qualities to develop new client business, as opposed to simply completing work assigned by partners, are much more likely to become partners and feel fulfillment in their career.

There is no single right way or magic formula for making this transition and we recognize that there are several paths that may be fostered based on an individual’s personality. Some associates have made this transition by developing a highly specialized, hard-to-find expertise or a record of success in a unique area while others have focused on developing interpersonal relationships. We will support you and help you to identify and capitalize on your own unique skills and assets.

Compensation

The compensation and benefits we provide are competitive with peer firms in each geographical location of our offices. However, we strive for a pure merit-based system and do not adhere to a rigid class system. Associates from the same law school class will not necessarily be treated identically in terms of compensation or advancement in the firm.

Our benefits include participation in retirement plans, a comprehensive health and dental plan, bar membership expenses and continuing legal education courses.

We have a reasonable annual billable hour requirement of 1800 and hours spent on seminars, articles, and pro bono work fully count towards this requirement. Exceeding this hourly billable requirement makes you eligible for a year-end bonus. The dollar amount of the bonus increases with the satisfaction of additional billing hours and merit-based achievements.

Leadership

We want our associates to be leaders and learn to manage both the practice and the business of law. Law schools do not train or develop managers, nor does doing excellent and complicated work for clients. A litmus test is how well the associate relates and gets along with his or her secretary, younger lawyers and partners. We recognize leadership and we reward it both financially and with public "pats on the back."

Associates generally welcome the opportunity to take on management activities such as: committee participation, associate recruitment, managing administrative staff organization, task forces to address a specific issue, creating and presenting a firm seminar, strategic business development ideas, and client relations. In addition, associates generally feel comfortable to approach partners and to discuss their ideas for the firm and its future and, our partners welcome it.

Technology

Blitman & King is a technology leader. We embrace technology and use it to: communicate, manage information, improve efficiency, and to make our professional lives easier.

All of our offices are connected and have access to the same document management system through which all attorney work product is accessible by search. In addition, upon arrival at the firm, each associate is provided with a smartphone as well as remote-access to enable them to access the Blitman & King network from home.

Pro Bono

Our commitment to pro bono is as diverse as the interests of our lawyers and our obligation, as we see it, to serve the public. The stakes are high because we often represent individuals without resources or support to adequately defend their rights. We also have our share of media grabbing high impact cases such as our representation of a mentally ill prisoner seeking appropriate relief from physical abuse and our work on behalf of inner-city youth after a tragic shooting.

We count all hours spent on approved pro bono work as billable hours.

Balance

Our associates work hard, but they also have a life outside the firm. They have the ability to adjust their schedules (subject to client demands) as well as the flexibility to duck out of the office during the day.

The complexity of our practice areas generally prevents the brain from consistently working 11 or 12 hours a day. Associates generally come in, do their work, leave at a relatively reasonable hour and then go home.