Trusting our associates to build our collective future
As an associate at Shumaker, you'll enjoy a high level of responsibility and accountability. You’ll be entrusted with a variety of complex, sophisticated matters on which to work with partners and senior associates, preparing you to move into your own independent assignments as you’re ready.
You'll have an aggressive but achievable annual billing guideline—backed by the full support of the firm to help you meet it. You’ll be encouraged and supported in taking the time you need for training, professional development, community service, and pro bono work. It's a well-rounded approach for the kind of multifaceted lawyers we want to build a future with us.
The Shumaker difference…
Lawyers who visit the firm witness an atmosphere of stability, integrity, work/life balance, and opportunity. If you are outstanding at what you do and you are a team player, there is a place for you here. We take our time and are very careful about who we hire, not just making decisions on what "the numbers" look like. We look for matches in philosophy, personality, skills, and quality–an approach that has served us well.
You'll find that although you get plenty of help with career development, you will be trusted as the person ultimately responsible for your Shumaker career. We believe mentoring works best when it is allowed to evolve naturally—so rather than being assigned a formal mentor, you'll find a firm full of lawyers who assist and advise you all along the way. You will have an assigned marketing mentor to help you develop a marketing plan and review it with you twice a year, bringing you ideas and tips from the marketing team. You'll also find structured opportunities, like a mentoring program started by the Ohio Supreme Court in which we participate. This combination of engaging opportunities and regular, informal guidance is, we believe, unique to Shumaker. Our associates find this approach comfortable, practical, and effective.
A solid base to launch a better trajectory
With a culture that encourages open communication and respect among colleagues, we take pride in working together. That means a grounding in principles of respect, cooperation, and teamwork; excellence in client service; uncompromising ethical and professional behavior; and a genuine commitment to the communities that are at the heart of our firm's success.
Our team finds these meaningful values reflect and generate other, more tangible rewards.
As a Shumaker lawyer, you will find:
- A compensation system that values and rewards teamwork, collaboration, initiative, professional contribution, and fairness.
- An emphasis on meaningful client work, with billing rates that support value for the client and reward for you.
- A collaborative approach to marketing and staffing to help you work with top-quality lawyers and benefit from ample client experience.
- Excellent morale and enjoyment from the practice of law in a values-driven environment where personal satisfaction, professional excellence, and client service reinforce each other.