Warren Knull says his first three weeks as a new corporate and securities associate with Andrews Kurth were “business boot camp” training. Knull and the firm’s other baby lawyers went through a course the firm purchased called The Fullbridge Program, during which the associates formed teams to solve a case study.

“We were tasked with deciding whether or not to build from scratch an air taxi business or acquire one of the major players already in the market,” says Knull, a 2013 graduate of the University of Texas School of Law. “Then, we had to analyze it from both a financial/business perspective and the legal issues that come along with acquiring a company like that.”

Each team presented its findings to the firm’s management committee and practice heads. Knull also earned an MBA while in law school and says, “It was a good experience, presenting in front of that kind of group. It was definitely a great experience and really great to build that rapport with the incoming class.”

Like the majority of the 306 first-year associates at 20 of the state’s 25 largest firms, Knull is male, Caucasian and a graduate of a Texas law school who is in either the litigation or corporate practice areas, began his full-time job in September and has a starting annual salary of $160,000. And like most of his fellow baby lawyers, Knull was a summer associate with his firm while still a law student. [See chart: New Associate Statistics 2013]

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