Yvette Ostolaza, chair of Sidley Austin’s Management Committee, says an increasingly common refrain from corporate clients is that they want to work with “business-savvy” lawyers.

In hopes of enhancing Sidley’s strong reputation in that regard, the firm ranked #7 in the Am Law 200 is implementing a new executive leadership and professional development program for associates.

Ostolaza says the “Built to Lead” initiative, which includes partnerships with top business schools, will help younger attorneys hone the skills necessary to effectively serve the increasingly complex needs of clients across the globe.

“Our goal here is to train our attorneys at a certain level of their careers to understand how businesses and business leaders address day-to-day problems,” Ostolaza tells Legal Dive.

Business-focused training

Sidley’s new program, which was first announced late last year and went into effect January 1, is geared toward associates in their fourth through seventh years.

These newly minted managing associates and senior managing associates will have the opportunity to obtain MBA-level executive leadership training at prominent institutions, including Columbia Business School and Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

The external training, as well as internal Sidley programming, will cover theories of leadership and problem-solving approaches. The associates will also learn about topics of interest to boardrooms, according to Ostolaza, who played a key role in creating the new program.

She says the training will not only help Sidley lawyers better understand the business issues their clients are grappling with, but allow them to communicate with clients “in a way that is analogous to how they're looking at the issues and problem solving for their businesses.”

The associates will also have access to personal career coaching with professional coaches. 

“The career coaching is an added way to have our associates chart their own path, whether they choose to stay with us for the rest of their careers or become a leader at a client or in their communities,” Ostolaza says.

Client feedback and support

Sidley’s clients have reacted very positively to the firm’s new business-focused training program for associates, according to Ostolaza, whose practice includes advising business leaders and corporate boards.

She says a few clients have even said they would like to have members of their in-house teams participate in the initiative. 

Ostolaza, who is a member of Sidley’s Executive Committee and its former global litigation co-leader, notes firm clients also appreciate Sidley’s willingness to embed its attorneys in clients’ legal departments in certain circumstances.

With more than 2,100 attorneys spread across 21 offices, Sidley has a broad network of lawyers it can potentially tap for such assignments. 

Ostolaza says the need for secondments can arise in instances when a client’s legal department has someone who is going on family leave or when their legal team will be short-staffed for other reasons.

Sidley lawyers will typically not do work for any other clients during their secondment stints, which provide them a chance to gain in-house experience.

“We find that it's beneficial for clients and for our attorneys,” Ostolaza says. 

Areas of investment

Ostolaza says another way Sidley is responding to the needs of its clients is by investing in practice areas where there is growing demand.

This has included the firm working to grow its rank of attorneys in the health care and life sciences spaces.

Serving these areas more effectively requires deep benches of both litigation and transactional attorneys, she says, which is a Sidley strong suit.

Sidley has also been investing in restructuring and related practice areas in light of the signs pointing toward an economic downturn in certain sectors. This investment comes amid the economic impact of the war in Ukraine and ongoing global supply chain challenges.

“Sidley saw clients through the Great Recession in 2008 and 2009 and helped them navigate the strategic challenges brought forth by the recession,” Ostolaza says. “Today, we’re confident that we have the talent and experience in place should there be a client need tomorrow.”