Workers' Compensation and Civil Litigation Consultation & Defense
News
ATB LEGAL INSTITUTE ESTABLISHED
2012-12-04
VAN NUYS, December 4, 2012 – Adelson, Testan, Brundo, Novell & Jimenez (ATB), a national law firm focusing on workers’ compensation defense, has established The ATB Legal Institute as an innovative approach to develop new attorneys and introduce them to the firm and the practice of workers’ compensation defense law.
Led by Kathleen L. Brundo, a co-managing partner of ATB, the Institute will offer qualified recent law school graduates the opportunity to work with the firm initially for a 12-week period. During that time, the new attorneys will receive salaries, participate in classroom instruction, and gain hands-on legal experience working closely with partners of the firm. The partners also will provide one-on-one mentoring for each participating attorney throughout the program. When the program concludes, selected attorneys will receive consideration for permanent positions with ATB.
“As we’ve learned over the course of the past two decades, the practice of workers’ compensation defense law requires a unique combination of legal knowledge, communication and people skills, enthusiasm and insight that generally takes years to develop,” said Ms. Brundo. “We established The ATB Legal Institute to help accelerate the development of talented new attorneys and give them experiences that will serve them well as their law careers progress.
“At the same time, we are enthusiastic about providing some of the region’s brightest new attorneys the opportunity to work with our partners and professionals, and gain an introduction to our firm and its supportive and collegial culture,” she added. “We hope that for many of the participants this experience will be a potential pathway to a future career with ATB.”
The ATB Institute initially is recruiting from a number of California law schools, including Southwestern, Pepperdine, and Loyola. ATB recently offered four new attorneys the opportunity to participate in its inaugural 12-week program. Each participating attorney will be mentored by an individual ATB partner as they gain experience in various aspects of workers’ compensation legal defense and participate in a full day of classes conducted weekly during the program by the firm’s partners and senior attorneys.
“The ATB Legal Institute serves as a wonderful and innovative model program for helping promising new law graduates transition into specialty areas of the law,” said Southwestern Law School’s Dean Austen Parrish. “We are proud that several Southwestern alumni are among the key participants as the new program is launched.”
In addition to the recent Southwestern graduates participating in the program, Ms. Brundo, who leads the ATB Legal Institute, is an alumnus of Southwestern.