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Every September, a lot of us spend a weekend tracking down backpacks, supply lists and the one very specific brand of folder a teacher insisted on to prepare for a new year of learning. It is worth remembering that the back-to-school instinct should not stop at our own front doors. The associates in our firms are also still learning this practice, and September is a good month to invest in them.
You may have heard that registration for the AAML Institute for Family Law Associates has now closed. If you got your associates in before the deadline, they are in for four good days in Chicago, Sept. 25-28: an introductory track for associates one to five years in, an advanced track for those who have already first-chaired a case, mentorship from Fellows who have actually tried these cases and, I am told, an evening of competitive darts. The faculty roster this year is outstanding, and that assessment holds even after you subtract my name from it.
If you meant to sign someone up and the date got away from you, you are not alone, and the remedy is a calendar entry rather than a regret. Registration opens again in the spring. Put a reminder somewhere you will actually see it, and pick the associate now rather than next August.
While the Institute lasts four days, what makes an associate is the other 361, and that part does not come with a registration link. It is the hearing you let them take when you could have taken it faster yourself. It is the 20 minutes after a bad ruling when you walk through what you would do differently. It is handing over the client call, the cross outline, the mediation opening and then stepping back while they do it their way. The Institute earns its place because it puts associates in a room with peers from other firms in other states, where they discover that the case keeping them up at night is keeping 40 other young lawyers up as well. We cannot manufacture that room in our own offices. We can decide what the associate walks into it already knowing.
Switching gears, I want to share something exciting that's coming. The Academy and the AFCC are working toward the joint conference in 2027. For those who have not attended a joint program before, the value is in the composition of the room. Judges, mental health professionals and lawyers are all working on the same problems from different chairs. It is a different kind of learning than we get talking among ourselves, and it is worth building into your 2027 calendar now. More to come, and I will keep this space warm until then.
Finally, this remains your newsletter. If the Institute sparks a thought about how we train the next generation, if you have a system for developing associates that actually works or if you have a practice pointer you wish someone had handed you in your second year, I would love to hear from you. We are always looking for new voices and fresh angles. Reach out with an article idea, a short column or even just the seed of a topic, and we can help you shape it.
I look forward to hearing from you and to seeing many of you in Chicago.
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