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| At first I was concerned about how much time [the
program] would take up. There is absolutely no disadvantage that I’ve
seen. It is a "win-win" situation for everybody. |
Jon Fuezy
Human Resources Coordinator
Heller Ehrman White
and McAuliffe LLP |
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| Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe |
Heller Ehrman White and McAuliffe, LLP is a 112-year-old
law firm with 12 offices, both domestically and abroad. The firm’s
San Francisco location is the firm’s largest office with 559
people, including 174 attorneys and 385 staff members. In February
2001, a new Human Resources Coordinator, Jon Fuezy, took on responsibility
for a pre-existing program: coordinating intern applicants from the
Legal Employment Action Program (LEAP) – a training program
dedicated to the training and placement of welfare recipients for
jobs in law firms. The firm’s participation in the program had
initially come from the firm’s commitment to helping the community.
Though skeptical initially, after reviewing Heller Ehrman’s
participation in LEAP, Fuezy discovered that the program offered a
variety of very positive benefits to the firm. The cost to Heller
Ehrman for hiring LEAP graduates is the same as that for other new
hires and the benefits include cost-savings attributed to the productivity
of the interns, a direct source of quality hires, and a high retention
rate. The interns hired from LEAP save Heller Ehrman the wage mark-up
and $3,000- $5,000 that would otherwise go to a staffing agency. Additional
savings could come in the form of federal, state, or city tax credits,
but the firm has chosen not to explore this option.
The LEAP program includes eight weeks of hard- and soft-skills training
followed by a three-month internship and training period where trainees
spend three days a week working in local firms and two days a week
in a classroom. Program graduates are typically hired into entry-level
jobs as support staff, most often at the law firms where they interned.
Read the full Heller Ehrman story and others in SFWORKS, Fast
Forward: The Case for Business Partnerships. SFWORKS
is a nonprofit organization that provides business solutions for workforce
development in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Or contact Terri Feeley at SFWORKS at (415) 217-5183.
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