Cozen O'Connor - The Inside View

Hanging onto your roots as a firm can be tricky the bigger and further the work takes you. Yet for Philly-born Cozen O’Connor, Philadelphia is as important a part of the firm’s identity as ever, and that’s despite the fact that the firm has spread across the United States as smoothly as Philadelphia cream cheese. Cozen now has over 30 office locations on their plate (including offices in Canada and the UK), but the bulk of the firms’ larger offices (and therefore associate positions) are concentrated in the Northeast. Intent on continuing its spread across the country, in early 2026 the firm merged with Moss and Barnett P.A., bringing the firm over the 1000 lawyer mark. How has it retained an identity in this growth? “What stood out is that they actually take an interest in the individual, they are intentional about who they bring in,” one associate told us, “when they send an offer, there is an interest in each person. Cozen felt intentional.”

“They actually take an interest in the individual, they are intentional about who they bring in”

With over 40 ranked departments and more than double that number in terms of ranked lawyers, it’s fair to say the firm features prominently in the Chambers USA rankings. Cozen’s insurance group is particularly well regarded, with multiple ranked individuals and ranked departments in Florida, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington. The firm is also acknowledged with top-tier rankings nationwide in corporate crime & investigations, State Attorneys General, shipping regulation, and aviation regulation.

Strategy & Future

Cozen O’Connor’s president and managing partner, Vince McGuinness, speaks about the company’s current trajectory: “I started at the firm in 1979. I'm proud to say every year I've been with the firm, it has grown in all different areas; by headcount, by financial metrics, by different practice areas that we've added on, and by businesses that we've acquired. I think that it is important to highlight that our trajectory is continuing to go upward.”

The firm has recently been making significant moves to expand its Canadian operations and ancillary business units. “Almost every year recently we've added a new ancillary business unit...We've diversified and provided these ancillary businesses, which are not populated or run by lawyers; they're professionals, but non-lawyer professionals that provide really important services to our clients,” McGuinness explains, “We’ve previously had clients reach out and ask us ‘can you help us with these needs that we have’, and so we've created these businesses.”

Read more from Vince McGuinness under the ‘Get Hired’ tab.

Summer Program

The summer program gives summer associates the opportunity to try work in a variety of departments. The program isn’t formally structured week by week but associates usually spend most of their time conducting legal research. Associates can also get involved with helping to draft motions, complaints and answers. They also conduct extra research that probably wouldn’t have been conducted otherwise, but this doesn’t mean you can’t undertake some invaluable work. One interviewee highlighted that they were able to create invaluable resources during the summer program (so much so that their team frequently still requests these resources to be sent to them).

The Work

Philadelphia, New York and DC house the largest number of juniors, with the rest more or less evenly split between offices like Boca Raton, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and Minneapolis. We heard that work assignment varies a little depending on the department. First year litigation associates at Cozen O’Connor are issued work via a centralized litigation pool by senior attorneys and partners throughout the country. This range is intended to give associates a flavor of what each sub department does. In practice groups like corporate, there are group assignment coordinators who receive work requests from partners and try to distribute work evenly considering an associate’s interests as best they can.

“If you end up not liking the practice, they’re really supportive in moving you. You’ll never be stuck.”

We heard that juniors will be able to continue working on any matter they find themselves gravitating towards (providing you’re able to get approval from whoever’s heading up the team). As one junior associate put it: “Cozen wants you to find a group you are happy in. If you end up not liking the practice, they’re really supportive in moving you. You’ll never be stuck.”

A number of practices at Cozen fall under the broad litigation umbrella, including the likes ofbusiness litigation and white collar. With first years having the opportunity to pick up work from different areas, “every day looks really different and cases ebb and flow,” one told us. That said, we did hear that a lot of the work of juniors will be related to insurance clients. Some offices, such as DC, might have slightly less litigious work than others, which can increase the likelihood of overlap with other offices where specific types of work are concerned. For juniors in the department, “there’s a lot of learning the facts and doc review,” one told us, but “as you build a rapport, you then get to go to client meetings and write a lot of motions and pleadings.”

Litigation clients: Bangladesh Bank, PowerPay, Howmet Aerospace. Represented Quincy Bioscience’s President and CEO against a case brought by the Federal Trade Commission over alleged false advertising relating to its main supplement, Prevagen. 

Cozen’s corporate practice encompasses the likes of M&A, private equity, capital markets & securities, corporate governance, commercial finance, and technology, privacy & data security. “As a first or second year, that means a lot of due diligence,” one junior explained, “but in your third and fourth there’s less and you do get a chance to draft ancillary documents.” But a word in defence of the lower profile stuff, juniors argued that small client work can come with more autonomy, and that can really help to develop legal acumen.

Corporate clients: Global Crossing Airlines, Healthy Choice Wellness, Cooper University Health Care. Represented MorganFranklin Cyber - a global professional services cybersecurity firm - in its private equity-backed buyout from MorganFranklin Consulting.

Culture

Of course, pushing through some tougher periods (and burning the midnight oil every so often) is part and parcel of Big Law. While this firm is certainly no exception to this rule, associates were keen to highlight that it didn’t ever feel like they were taking on the brunt of the work alone. Interviewees also stressed that it was very culturally acceptable to take a brief step back in workload right after a busy period. We heard from interviewees that Cozen is also very understanding of the fact that sometimes certain sectors are busier than others, and that work sometimes comes in peaks and troughs. As one put it: “Cozen O’Connor is a place you work hard, but your time outside of work is respected.”

“…the recruitment process felt personal and intentional and didn’t feel like I was just part of a recruitment quota…”

More broadly, “the recruitment process felt personal and intentional and didn’t feel like I was just part of a recruitment quota,” one associate told us. Partners were described as easy to approach and interviewees even shared stories of partners getting themselves involved in some lighthearted videos to provide some much-needed comic relief: “In other words, the partners remember what it was like to be a junior associate.”

For associates who were previously at Moss and Barnett (a firm recently acquired by Cozen to bolster their ranks in the Midwest), there is a unique perspective on what life at Cozen is like compared to other firms. On the differences, one associate said: “I never thought I’d go into BigLaw. I feel like I’ve had the resume boost that comes with the BigLaw experience but Cozen still feels like it holds the same values as Moss and Barnet.”

Social events are far from just limited to happy hours. Exercise classes, dinners and musical events are just some examples of the social events associates partake in. Some of these will be tied to certain initiatives so to get the most out of your Cozen experience, make sure you’re part of one of these. We also hear that the coffee machine is very fancy at the Philadelphia office; something that the old Moss and Barnett employees are apparently pleased to no end about. We heard that in some offices, working in the office until 7.30pm will mean the firm will provide you dinner. In other offices there are cake days once a month (when a cake is bought to celebrate all the birthdays that month).

Career Development

A large chunk of the associate population seems to have their heart set on sticking around at Cozen for the long haul.  Associates point towards the company’s attitude of developing home-grown talent as a reason for wanting to stick around. In the words of one associate, “Cozen O’Connor does a great job of mentorship and provides hands on experience. I’m not just reviewing documents; I go to court and speak to clients. I feel like a lawyer.”

The advantage of having a countrywide network of people to contact was something associates were keen to highlight.  Perhaps unsurprisingly, Cozen's  Philadelphia office is by far its largest. Interviewees commented that it was “definitely seen as the hub.” That said, we heard other offices have recently been “getting love and attention.” Associates did flag that working in smaller offices in more niche groups sometimes felt as though they had “fallen through the cracks when it comes to training.” That said, associates told us that while the path to equity partner can be a bit more mysterious, they were convinced that the path to non-equity partners is very clear and well laid out.

Pro Bono

Pro bono hours

• For all (US) attorneys: Undisclosed
• Average per (US) attorney: Undisclosed

Pro-bono normally makes up about 70 hours of your billable hours target, but if you find yourself hitting your pro-bono target, there are opportunities to get your pro-bono quota upgraded. Pro-bono supervision is reportedly ‘easy to get’, and pro-bono supervisors are flexible.  One associate highlighted that “every week, there are new pro-bono matters.” The pro-bono supervisors also help to take some of the administrative burden away from you. We heard examples of associates working on criminal expungements, immigration name changes, veteran upgrade discharges, work for educational non-profits, immigration green card cases and compassionate releases. 

Hours & Compensation

Billable hours: Varies by department

Junior associates’ annual billable hour target depends on the practice group, but it doesn’t dramatically vary. Most practice groups sit in and around the ballpark of 1750- 1800 billable hours per year. As we’ve touched on, pro-bono usually accounts for around 70 hours, with around 50 additional training hours also baked in. Hitting your billable hours target isn’t necessarily a prerequisite for receiving your bonus at Cozen, but hitting your billable hours target will ensure a more susbtantial bonus. When calculating your bonus, we heard the firm considers a range of factors. This might be either accounting for how busy a practice area was that year, or whether associates are working under extenuating circumstances, such as parental leave, for part of the year.

This, along with the basic pay scale at Cozen after the first year, sometimes generates some “awkward but necessary” discussions about pay scales with fellow associates according to one. With this being said, one interviewee urged prospective associates to not “just think about the money” and made it clear that “for every factor apart from being the top paid firm, Cozen wins every time.”

Inclusion

There are a wide variety of participation initiatives available to associates. Cozen has been running a women’s initiative since the 1990s, and there are also black and Hispanic attorney research groups. These groups appear to be active communities and will aim to meet at least quarterly. Associates that took advantage of these groups highlighted that “they’re really fun. It’s always nice to spend time with people facing similar challenges to you.” Commemorative events geared towards inclusivity, such as black history month, dedicated zoom lectures and educational programming opportunities are hosted by the firm.

Get Hired 

The first stage: recruitment on and off campus 

Cozen O’Connor welcomes and encourages direct applications from students who wish to apply to locations where the firm runs a summer program. Students interested in practicing at any Cozen O'Connor office with a summer program are interviewed on a rolling basis. Hiring sources at the firm tell us “we are constantly evaluating the breadth of our recruitment to ensure that we are engaging the best talent for our firm.” 

First round interviews are often conducted by two attorneys from the office to which the student applying. In the interview, “we seek students who demonstrate sharp analytical thinking skills, leadership characteristics, and curiosity about the career upon which they are embarking.”  The firm is also looking for a demonstrated interest in the firm and a particular market.

Top tips for this stage: “Be prepared. Take time to research the firm and your interviewers.  You should come to the interview with thoughtful questions about the firm.” – hiring sources at the firm. 

Callbacks 

Applicants invited to second stage interview: 83

The format of callback interviews may differ by office, but the firm assures us candidates are given all the details they need ahead of the interview. Interviewers assess candidates on the same criteria as the first round stage, but in much more detail. Hiring sources advise that “a big part of interviewing is listening to what the interviewer says and making appropriate connections to your own background and experiences.” 

Top tips for this stage: “Candidates stand out when they show a strong interest in the firm.”– hiring sources at the firm. 

Summer program 

Offers: 26

Acceptances: 16

Attorneys across the firm can request assistance from a summer associate via an assignment portal. Each office has an assignment coordinator who will get a sense of what summer associates are particularly interested in. “They will make best efforts to assign them work that aligns with their interests,” hiring sources tell us, “but we also believe it is very important that our summer associates are exposed to as many different practice areas and attorneys as possible.” Every summer associate is also assigned two mentors – a partner writing mentor and an associate mentor. There are social events throughout the program and weekly training sessions. The firm says almost all summers return as junior associates (sometimes after completing a judicial clerkship). Associates who wish to focus more on the transactional side may start at the firm in a specific practice area, while those who wish to focus on the litigation side return to the firm’s litigation pool before joining a specific group after approximately one year. 

Top tips for this stage: “When you’re given an opportunity to observe an attorney at court, in a deposition, conduct a client meeting, or participate in a call with the client or opposing counsel, take it!” – hiring sources at the firm. 

And finally.... 

It may seem obvious, but “never ask questions that a cursory review of the firm’s website would have revealed the answers.” The firm sees hundreds of candidates, so “the less times we have to answer ‘tell me about your summer program,’ the better. With those questions out of the way, we can get to know you better and you can get better insight on the firm.”

Interview with Vince McGuinness, President and Managing Partner

Commercial strategy, market position and trends

Chambers Associate: How would you define your firm’s current position and identity in the legal market? What differentiates your firm from your peer firms in the market?

Vince McGuinness: As a firm, we are solidly in the Amlaw 25 to 75 group of law firms. This group have very similar client bases and economic metrics, but there are some who have different approaches to how their firms are growing, how their firms are evolving culturally, and what directions they want to take their firms. In terms of what differentiates us, we continue to keep our growth strategies in place. Our strategic plan has been in place for dozens of years and we continue to update it. In this plan, we’ve mapped out where we want to grow geographically, where we want to grow in terms of our core practices, and where we want to grow with our ancillary business units and specialty practices.

With respect to geographic growth, we're comfortable that, in the US and Canada, we have the locations where our clients’ needs are being best met. With our core practices, we are comfortable that in certain geographies we have the full-service capabilities to meet our clients’ needs. We want to continue to target growth in our core practice areas in other locations, so we are able to provide the same service to lawyers and to clients in those locations as we do in, say, our New York, Philadelphia, or DC offices.

In reference to ancillary units and special practices, almost every year recently we've added a new ancillary business unit. We think that that's been a differentiator because many law firms don't have ancillary businesses; they focus on just the legal practice. We've diversified and provided these ancillary businesses, which are not populated or run by lawyers; they're professionals, but non-lawyer professionals that provide really important services to our clients. We’ve previously had clients reach out and ask us, ‘can you help us with these needs that we have’, and so we've created these businesses. We’ve also set aside some specialty practices, where we've had some very interesting and very positive growth,

CA: Have there been any developments at the firm over the past year that you’d like law students to know about?

McGuinness: I think growth is a continuing theme at Cozen O’Connor; we continue to grow. That’s growth in terms of numbers of lawyers, growth in terms of our financial metrics, and growth in terms of specialty practices. I started at the firm in 1979. I'm proud to say every year I've been with the firm, it has grown in all different areas; by headcount, by financial metrics, by different practice areas that we've added on, and by businesses that we've acquired. I think that it is important to highlight that our trajectory is continuing to go upward. Some law firms flatten out, some law firms have had dips, but we continue to grow. Our growth is measured and steady, but its more controlled and more paced than maybe some other law firms. We haven’t, for example, acquired a similar size law firm to double our size instantly.

I think our approach to expansion in the Mid-West proves this point. We started speaking to a law firm in the Midwest in Minneapolis 10 years ago [Moss and Barnett P.A.] and we concluded the deal last year and brought 50 plus lawyers on in Minneapolis. That wasn’t because they didn't want us. It also wasn’t because we didn't want them, it was just that the timing when we first started to talk to them wasn't as propitious as it became later. We eventually got to know each other, had cross referrals, and realized on both sides of the equation that we shared the same values, didn't have client conflicts, and that our cultures were a good match. Ten years is pretty long, but we got it done. Some firms are on a meteoric pace and that works for them … we’re a little bit slower and steadier, but that slow and steady pace has worked quite well for us.

CA:  Are there any domestic or international events/trends that are affecting any of the firm’s practices at the moment? Are there any trends that you think are affecting the business of law firms more generally, and how is that playing out with your firm?

McGuinness: We've been really thrilled with our growth in Canada. That has been a real plus for us. I think it is interesting that when U.S. law firms grow internationally, they often overlook the value of having Canadian lawyers and their ability to team up with their US offices. There’s so much cross-border trade that goes on between the US and Canada, we were not surprised to see that as we grew our Canadian practices, we saw that their needs in the United States became significant, and their clients’ needs in the United States were significant too.

I think it's almost a secret we don't want to share because it was a great opportunity for us to grow internationally without expending significant efforts. You contrast that to law firms that have moved into Asia, for example, and they've struggled a whole lot. You've probably seen a lot of law firms shutting down offices in different Asian markets, particularly in China. Some of those geographies present different types of challenges, and we were pleasantly surprised that we didn't have that in Canada. We’re really looking forward to continuing our growth. Don't put that in your notes. I wouldn’t want other law firms to take this secret of ours and exploit it.

Zooming in on the U.S. market, we have a very strong middle market client base. We've been very fortunate that as some of those middle market clients continue to grow and they become much bigger and much stronger, we are able to meet all of their needs.  This is because of the national footprint that we have, both with the talent in many locations, as well as having offices where their needs are being met. The strategy of having the right geographic footprint in the States has worked out well for clients.

CA: What is your firm’s commercial strategy focusing on, and how do you expect the next year to unfold?

McGuinness: As part of our commercial strategy, we are continuing to provide the services that our clients need in different areas. We've experienced some solid growth in our real estate practices, our private client practices, and in our corporate practices. We have a very robust private client practice in Canada, and we have added some with the Moss and Barnett deal. We have an office in Boca Raton, Florida, that has a significant number of private client lawyers. We have an ancillary business called HomeBase that provides a technology platform for family offices. The growth in that particular area continues to be something we’re focused on and we're going to continue to grow.

We've also seen an uptick in our commercial litigation practices. In some areas it's a little bit flat, the white-collar crime in particular. The current administration is pursuing things differently than to prior administrations. That’s meant that there’s been less need for white-collar crime lawyers, but many of them have moved to different areas in our organization and have repurposed themselves and that's been working out quite well. We also have a group of lawyers that really have national expertise in an area of Title 9 claims (which is dealing with educational fairness and education). Again, the Title 9 investigations by the Department of Labor have dwindled to a low number, but there's also what's called Title 7, which is claims for everything from race to other characteristics outside the educational space. These claims have ticked upward.

We’ve just opened up an office in Fort Lauderdale. The lawyers there have a specialty in class action litigation. We're seeing quite a big uptick in class action filings across the states.

CA: Whilst speaking to associates, we got the impression that nurturing and developing homegrown talent is a real priority of Cozen. Do you think the firm takes a different approach to other BigLaw firms when it comes to developing talent?

McGuinness: I think it's easy to say that we do it better, we do it more, and we do it more intensely, but it’s one of the things that we have always prided ourselves on. We have always felt that it is really important to provide critical skills support and advocacy education for lawyers. This tradition goes back to even when I did our summer associate program (although it wasn’t called that then). The firm has never wanted young associates to just be cannon fodder and have them replaced by the next crop of younger entry level hires three or four years later. Cozen O’Connor is a place where associates can make a career and be like myself as well as many others in our firm and become a lifer.

We have a lot of lifers at Cozen O’Connor. I think that's in part because when I was a young lawyer here, the firm felt that it was important to invest in me as a lawyer, and my professional development.  I think because my generation of lawyers experienced that investment and we were well rewarded by an enriching career; it only makes sense that we want to do the same for the next generation of lawyers. I have friends who are lawyers that say ‘you know what? I really don't like being a lawyer’ and it's kind of sad because I really loved my career. I love what I did, and it is actually really enjoyable, but it's only enjoyable to the extent that you make the career a very positive experience for younger lawyer. That’s something that we continue to focus on.

We have a very strong legal talent team, and we do everything from for litigators, we do trial academies, for our transactional lawyers, we do a week-long negotiation skills program, we have coaching that we provide for lawyers. We really invest a whole lot in making certain that these lawyers who are going to be the next leaders in our firm and the next generation of Cozen O'Connor attorneys have the right skill set and the right experiences and the right training to be as successful and as marvellous as I was. That's our goal.

CA: During our interviews, we spoke to previous Moss and Barnett associates. They felt that Cozen O’Connor really did share the same values. Would you say that Cozen O’Connor is a BigLaw firm that has the culture of a more mid-sized firm?

McGuinness: I look back, I was the 19th lawyer here. I joined this firm because I wanted to be in a smaller type of a firm. I always felt smaller meant it was more intimate. You got more attention and you got client engagement early on. Looking at all those positive attributes of a small firm that I would look at a big firm and say impersonal, you know? I didn't want that in my career. As the firm grew, one of the tasks that folks like me in leadership had was to make certain that our lawyers had that same feeling of intimacy in a Biglaw firm that we experienced in a small law firm. That takes a lot of work. It doesn't just happen. It takes a lot of work in terms of making certain that lawyers have the right support in terms technology.

You know, I started with a secretary that had a typewriter. I'm not sure you know what that even is, but. I also had a Rotary telephone, which, your generation probably wouldn’t know how to use either. It’s essential to make sure lawyers are up to speed and have the resources and the support for the technology as it evolves, So right now, we have 4 lawyers who are full-time AI specialists, they're not practicing AI, they're specialists to support our lawyers who are using AI in their practices. It's really important that you keep abreast of those types of things in an organization because it really says a lot to your lawyers that you want to invest in them. You want to invest in areas that are important to them and where they're going to thrive and where they're going to succeed.

We always fancy ourselves as being entrepreneurial, and you can't be successfully entrepreneurial if you don't have the right tools. We get that and we want to make sure that our lawyers who come here have that feeling that they're not trading off by going into a larger firm and not experiencing that, again, intimacy that you will have in a small law firm. I’m glad to hear that that's been some of the feelings of some newer lawyers that that have been joining us.

Inside the Firm

CA: How is the firm evolving to accommodate the needs/expectations of the next generation of lawyers?

McGuinness: Our management committee meets monthly, and whether it's on the agenda or not, remote working, hybrid working, and flexible working policies are always topics that work their way in to our agendas. We are always asking Is what we have in place good? Is it healthy? Is it positive? Is it negative?  I definitely was of the old school that would always say what are we doing? You got to be in the office! That’s how you learn! I had, you know, Steve Cozen sat across from me and, you know, that's how I learned! I've come full circle on that and I realized that there are different ways to be a successful, talented, experienced, well-trained, and happy lawyer, and it doesn't necessarily require you to sit in an office behind your desk. What it does require, though, is that you understand that flexibility for lawyers is really, really important.

I'll give you an instance. Friday in our office, is pretty quiet (you don't often have the remote workers or hybrid workers that come in) and I ran into a lawyer here one Friday. He starts saying to me ‘Oh my goodness, what are you doing here?’ I'm like, ‘What do you mean what am I doing here?’ He's like, ‘If I knew you were here, I would have dressed up.’ And so, we kind of started chatting and I asked him the very question you just asked me, I was like, ‘how do you find that working?’ And he said, ‘well, I have three little children at home. I look forward to coming into the office because when I'm home, I want to play with my kids. They want to play with me. I can't focus. I get distracted. So, for me, I come into the office probably more.’

That made me think that at different phases of our lives, there's different levels of flexibility that we have to have in order to be happy and successful, because happy lawyers are productive lawyers. It also struck me because we often think that younger people just want to work remotely, and they want to be at home. But here’s a guy who wanted to come in to get away from his little kids. As a result, he was able to come in and concentrate and, then when he is at home, he can focus on being a good dad. I think that story shows that here's all different types of people's needs, and that's where you have to understand that that flexibility is really critical for lawyer success. I've even been evolving. I get it and I can understand why that flexibility in the workplace is important.

CA: How do you think the legal profession is going to change over the next fiveyears? Do you think that there'll be any challenges that the industry will face?McGuinness: I think AI is going to change the legal profession, and not necessarily just purely for lawyers.It’s going to impact everything, whether it’s marketing, billing our clients, how support staff interface with lawyers, what roles paralegals and paraprofessionals play in the legal profession, how the courts run, and what our clients’ needs are.  All those things are being impacted by AI (generative AI programs in particular).  It has to impact the profession, it's impossible for it not to.

We hear from our younger associates ‘does that mean we're not going to have 20 new associates every year? Is it going to go down to 5 or 10.’ It reminds me of when I was a younger lawyer and when I first was a litigator. We would go into a conference room, and there'd be 1000 boxes and we'd have to go manually through each box and figure out what documents were privileged and what ones were not. Fast forward a decade and this software called Relativity comes out and now it’s all done electronically. This change didn't mean that we reduced the lawyers because we still needed lawyers. If that was the case, our firm would have shrunk in size. We increased in size because the role of the lawyer changed. Lawyers exercise judgment, lawyers review, evaluate, assess, and provide recommendations to clients. Those types of things technology and even generative AI won't be able to do, at least in my lifetime. I'm not going to see it, maybe yours, but not mine.

I think that there's going to be a shift in terms of what younger lawyers do, what senior lawyers do, what the staffing in a law firm does, and then what clients do that will change our profession. What is that going to be? Who knows? This technology is advancing at such a rapid pace. We're still even trying to get our arms around how to use it and the best ways to use it, the most efficient ways to use it and safest ways to use it. I think the jury is a little bit out in terms of how it's going to impact the profession, but I can guarantee you it will.

The Legal Profession

CA: Thinking about the ways that the legal profession is developing, is there one skill that you've learned in your career that you think is really key for young attorneys to learn?

McGuinness: I think the one skill that goes from top to bottom in any organization is communication. Communication is so critical. It's important for leadership to communicate to the folks who work in their organization that they expect transparency. It helps with buy-in, it helps with understanding, and it helps with morale.

On the other side, young lawyers need to make certain that they keep in touch with their clients and report what they're doing and how they're doing it. I always say that to our lawyers, it’s a great risk management tool; keep your clients in touch. When a client asks for a status report, if you're not sure if you're ready to send one, or you don't have one, there’s nothing wrong with getting back and saying, ‘hey, I'm going to send you one. Can you wait a week? Or ‘I’m going to get you something’. Or’ here's, you know, a summary of what's coming up’. Clients appreciate the response back. I think that it's worse if you don't communicate.

Communicate with the people you work with. Tell them what you're doing and how you're doing it and what struggles or challenges you have. Senior lawyers are looking to help train and help educate and keep associates on the right track so they don't go awry and do something that could be damaging. Keeping strong communication skills in place is the one thing that I’d highlight to young professionals to embrace.

The Fun Bit

CA: When you were back in law school what was your go to meal that you cooked after a long day of studying?

       McGuinness: I was a mac and cheese guy. I think part of it was because back then I didn't have more than two dimes to rub together and I could get inexpensive mac and cheese. Over time though, I learned how to gussy it up, and I eventually would add some bacon, or ham or, some spices. After I got married and we had a family, that became our family's go-to on Friday night. They would always say ‘Dad, can we get a pizza tonight?’ and I said, ‘No, Friday's is our mac and cheese night’. I would say to my sons, ‘next Friday is your mac and cheese night, so come up with something different that you're going to put in. Just so long as it's not anchovies, I'm good with anything else you want to put in’.

  CA: What was the first concert you attended?

McGuinness: I won’t tell you the first concert, (that was in high school sometime and I probably don't even remember that) but I will tell you my most exciting gig. There was a concert that was held both in the UK and Philadelphia called Live Aid. I attended, and I only attended it because my wife is a physician, and they needed people to volunteer to be part of the medical team.

My wife volunteered herself, and when she sent in the form, I added my name thinking that they could have helpers. For some reason they thought I was a physician too, so they brought us both in. I was put in the medical tent, and they asked me, ‘what area of practice do you have?’  And I was like, ‘well, I'm in subrogation’ They were like, ‘what?’ and were asking ‘what medical practice is that?’ I say’ no, no, I'm a lawyer’ and they were like, ‘what are you doing here?’. Eventually they said, ‘all right, we need people to carry passed out people on stretchers’, which meant I was able to participate, whilst seeing the entire concert. It was kind of a unique and fun experience seeing the concert through the lenses of the medical team.