Founded in 1949, Sullivan & Cromwell’s Visiting Lawyers Program provides practical training in the United States to visiting lawyers who plan to return to their home countries to practice law.
With more than 440 alumni in 48 countries, the hallmark of the Firm’s Visiting Lawyers Program has been the substantive nature of the experience provided. Our visiting lawyers do not learn by observing others at work; they learn by active involvement in transactions. The Firm believes that it is difficult to provide meaningful exposure to U.S. practice in a short time. Accordingly, the program begins in the fall of each year and participants generally are at the Firm for a term of eight or nine months.
Visiting lawyers are actively involved in the work of the Firm. They are generally expected to perform legal work at the level of a regular U.S.-trained associate, and they join teams of S&C lawyers assigned to client matters. They also participate in the Firm’s formal associate training programs. Most visiting lawyers are assigned to our General Practice Group, which covers all the corporate, financial and other transactional practices of the Firm.
Like our regular associates, our visiting lawyers do not work solely with one or a few designated partners. During the course of their stay with S&C, they work with a number of different partners and many associates. Visiting lawyers receive their assignments through the same assignments system as regular associates, although the administrators of the program, particularly at the beginning of the year, make a special effort to ensure that the members of the program are actively engaged in the work.