WHY JOIN US?
At Andersen, Tate & Carr you will find a legal practice as sophisticated and intellectually stimulating as any "Downtown Firm" could provide, but with the relaxed atmosphere, collegiality and camaraderie that a "Small Firm" environment offers. We feel ATC offers a legal practice in an environment that is the best of both worlds.
ATC is the largest full-service law firm in Gwinnett County, with more than 30 attorneys and over seventy-five employees. Our practice area extends throughout metropolitan Atlanta and across the Southeast. Our firm is organized into six main practice areas: (1) Real Estate and Banking; (2) Business/Corporate; (3) Civil Litigation; (4) Zoning, Land Use & Government Relations; (5) Estate Planning; and (6) Criminal Law. However, the diversity of our clients and the complexity of the legal matters they present to us often means that the lines between practice areas are blurred so that our attorneys frequently work closely together across disciplines to provide comprehensive representation to our clients. This allows each of us to develop our individual specialties, knowing that no matter what legal issues our clients are confronted with, there is probably an attorney in the firm who is well-versed in
that area of the law.
If you ask employees of ATC what they appreciate most about our firm, invariably they will point to the relationships. Associates and partners, attorneys and staff, relationships with clients -- at ATC, nothing is more important than relating to people one-on-one. We value collegiality over hierarchy, and we appreciate how lucky we are to be working in a place where commitments to friendship, family and community are honored.
TECHNOLOGY
ATC places a strong emphasis on giving its employees the best tools for getting the job done. In that regard, AT&C has dedicated substantial time and resources to technology and technology support. Technology is not an afterthought at ATC and the firm is constantly evaluating its hardware and software to create the optimum working environment for every employee.
Attorneys routinely employ the firm's technological resources to create and present exhibits, charts and visual aids at trials, hearings and other presentations. The firm's employees make use of scanners, digital cameras, voice recognition dictation and imaging/OCR software on a daily basis. Our entire network was recently upgraded with top of the line servers, routers and other hardware and software. Attorneys have desktop access to Westlaw for legal research, as well as computerized billing and file/client management software and other advanced software tools. All computer workstations are upgraded and replaced on a three-year schedule. Our outstanding computer network support provider is a leader in the Atlanta market, serving many of Atlanta's top law firms.
BENEFITS
- Health insurance (firm pays employee's premium, employee pays premium for dependents) -- includes vision and lab discount
- Life insurance (firm pays employee's and dependents' premiums)
- Short Term Disability insurance (firm pays premium)
- Long Term Disability insurance (firm pays premium)
- Cafeteria Plan -- includes Medical Flexible Spending Plan, Dependent Care, and ability to pay for voluntary medical insurance premiums (e.g., dependent health insurance premiums) pre-tax. Voluntary supplemental insurance policies are available under the cafeteria plan, including policies for accident, life, catastrophic illness, cancer, etc.
- Direct Deposit of paychecks
- Self-directed 401K (employee payroll deferral) -- eligible to join at any time; and Profit Sharing Plan (firm contribution) -- eligible first quarter after one full year of service
- Vacation: 10 days/year, increasing to 20 days/year based on years of service
- Sick leave: 10 days/year (includes 2 days which may be used as personal leave)
- Maternity leave (up to 12 weeks)
- Holidays (8-9 per year, based on 1-2 for Christmas)
- Business casual dress code
ATTORNEY HIRING
As a first-year associate at ATC you will have substantial responsibility and direct client contact from the beginning of your career, with the mentoring and guidance of experienced partners, associates and staff to help you make the transition from law school to law practice. Ours is not a firm where you will be churning out legal memoranda or attaching exhibits to documents, never seeing a client or the courtroom for the first several years of your practice. From the outset of your legal career at ATC, you will be treated as a valued and integral member of our team . . . because you will be.
ATC strongly encourages its attorneys to get involved in the community and to develop relationships which will enrich both their personal and their professional development. We encourage our attorneys to take part in civic and charitable organizations that are working to make a positive difference in the community, and attorneys are given credit for hours they spend in community service.
SUMMER ASSOCIATE PROGRAM
In selecting candidates for summer associate positions, we look for academic excellence (generally students in the top third of their class), substantive extracurricular involvement (such as moot court, mock trial and/or law review or journal experience), as well as other accomplishments and life experiences. We are interested in students who are polished, professional and eager to assume responsibility.
We are looking for more than mere academic qualifications - we seek well-rounded, engaging and personable students who will further enhance and enrich the culture and collegiality of our firm. Nothing is more important to the continued success of our firm than ensuring that we maintain a workplace where everyone truly enjoys each other's company on a personal level and respects each other on a professional level. Because collegiality is so important to the firm culture of ATC, we involve our summer associates in relaxed, informal social activities to allow everyone to get to know each other on a more personal level during the summer. The firm's annual Summer party is a staple, and other common outings include whitewater rafting trips, week-end lake outings, golfing, and pickup basketball games, as well as Atlanta Braves games and Chastain concerts, to give just a few examples.
The work that summer associates do is always dictated by the work our attorneys are doing at the time. We don't give "busy work" assignments and assignments are not given just to evaluate your abilities. The work you will do will be similar to the sorts of things a new associate just out of law school would be given and we make a concerted effort to try to expose summer associates to all of the practice areas within our firm. The goal is to give you an experience as close as possible to what you would experience as a new associate at our firm.
ATC's Summer Associate Program is our primary means of hiring new associates. We hold on-campus interviews annually at the University of Georgia School of Law, and we actively recruit qualified students from Emory, Georgia State, Mercer, as well other law schools across the Southeast.
