SAN FRANCISCO — Baseball has the minor leagues. Medicine offers residency programs. But recent law school graduates have no equivalent training opportunities to hone their skills—at least until now.
A tight job market for new lawyers and a push to make legal representation more affordable have prompted law schools in California and other states to fund startup law firms.
About two dozen so-called legal incubators or fellowship programs have cropped up nationwide in recent years to teach a few select law graduates the basics of legal practice and expand services to people who otherwise couldn’t afford a lawyer. And more schools are set to jump into the mix.
Many of the programs help graduates set up solo practices.
“The idea was to take new lawyers and give them the support that traditionally has not been provided in terms of setting up a business and also inspiring them to spend part or all of their practice doing modest-means work,” said Lilys McCoy, who runs The Center for Solo Practitioners at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego. The program launched in 2012.
Critics of the incubators, however, question whether the real goal might be to boost law school employment figures and say the incubator programs can only help a small number of graduates.
“Most of these are elite opportunities for individuals,” said Jeff Pokorak, vice provost for faculty and curriculum at Suffolk University in Boston, who favors incorporating the practical training the incubators provide into the law school curriculum.
