The Professional Development Department is responsible for devising and implementing various strategies and programs regarding Supervision, Mentoring, Training Initiatives, Evaluation Procedures, and Cohesiveness for attorneys both intra and inter offices. 

B&P supports a Practice Group concept whereby each Group acts as a Team and is supervised by a Practice Group Leader.

The mentoring program at B&P is a support system for Attorneys to have an outlet for regular communications, and it is accomplished via a Group Mentoring process to facilitate more of a connection among offices and better cross-selling opportunities.

In addition to Practice Group specific meetings and substantive training (including immersion courses), B&P provides various training initiatives in areas such as Leadership, Self-Improvement, Team Building , and Time Management. At B&P, we help the attorneys in obtaining their required CLE credits by offering a convenient (on the premises) CLE lunch once a month that covers a wide range of topics. Regional offices may partake in the CLE lunch by logging onto Webex (an online collaboration and meeting tool).

B&P truly supports the Professional Development of its attorneys, whether that is accomplished via speaking engagements, publishing articles, becoming active in a trade organization or bar association. An excellent example of this support is via our Enhancement Program. Each attorney meets with several senior attorneys at the Firm to discuss and plan their individual development. This program allows each attorney to focus on their career by devising a personalized business plan with input from successful, experienced practitioners in their area of law. Accordingly, part of the attorney's evaluation stems directly from the agreed upon objectives stated in the Enhancement Plan and how well those objectives have been achieved.

Evaluations are completed via a computerized program and then followed-up with personal face-to-face interviews.

As we grow and evolve, B&P strives to keep a connection in and among all its offices so that everyone knows who their colleagues are around the state. We achieve this objective by creating an up-to-date intranet (accessible only to employees) which B&P recommends logging onto daily in order to keep apprised of the goings-on of all Practice Groups, attorneys, staff, and administrative departments.

Additionally, there are many groups that foster collegiality and/or may be used as a resource, such as, the Women's Group, WILL (Women in Law Leadership), the Associate's Group, AAG (Associate's Advisory Group), and the diversity group, LEAD (Lawyers Encouraging Action in Diversity).

B&P also hosts various events, such as annual attorney retreats, regular practice group dinners, diversity round tables and cocktail events, charity fundraisers, an annual Firm picnic, and other fun social events.

Welcome to the B&P family. I look forward to meeting you.

Marni Becker-Avin
Director of Professional Development