Recruiting at Ward and Smith Law Firm in North Carolina

Ward and Smith, P.A. is one of the best places to work with a law degree (according to America's Greatest Places to Work with a Law Degree by Kimm Alayne Walton, J.D.). The firm's reputation and culture, the opportunities to develop professionally, and the four office locations in beautiful eastern North Carolina are a few of the reasons our attorneys express overall satisfaction with Ward and Smith. We offer employees the opportunity to balance challenging work for diverse clients with rewarding personal lives.

We are interested in hiring individuals who possess the intellect, personality, motivation, and maturity to enable them to be successful at Ward and Smith. While academic credentials, writing skills, and relevant experience are critical, we also recognize the importance of leadership, initiative, and community involvement.

We meet most Summer Associates and entry-level attorneys through fall on-campus interviews with second and third year law students. Ward and Smith routinely sends interview teams to recruit at Campbell University, Duke University, Elon University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina Central University, the University of Richmond, Wake Forest University, and the College of William and Mary. We also welcome inquiries from second and third year students at other law schools. After our interviews are completed, call-back interviews are extended.

Our "call back" is more involved than the typical law firm's. Instead of one day of interviews, we invite candidates to New Bern for an overnight visit. The extended stay is designed to provide candidates and, if applicable, their spouses/significant others, an opportunity to learn about the firm, our practices, our attorneys and their families, and our culture. Our goal is to assist candidates in making educated career choices.

As the firm draws the majority of our entry-level attorneys from the Summer Associate Program, it is a vital component of our recruiting and hiring efforts. The program typically runs twelve weeks, six weeks for those Summer Associates who opt to split, and offers opportunities to spend time in all four of our locations, as time permits. This rotation provides maximum exposure to our offices, practice sections, and attorneys and their families. Our program requires hands-on work with clients and a variety of practice disciplines to which we provide frequent evaluations of work product to assist our Summer Associates in their development. Various social events afford the opportunity to become familiar with our personnel and the geographic advantages of eastern North Carolina and our office locations. One of our primary goals is to employ and develop attorneys with the potential to be successful attorneys as well as good friends and neighbors.

Although Ward and Smith hires primarily from its Summer Associate Program, we also seek exceptional third-year and lateral candidates, according to staffing needs. Such needs are a direct result of firm growth and expansion of Practice Sections.

Ward and Smith employs approximately 190 support staff who work with our attorneys as a team committed to excellence. We offer an atmosphere for personal as well as professional growth through specialized training, educational programs, and promotions from within the firm, with the ultimate goal of serving our clients with the highest degree of professionalism and integrity.

If you are ambitious and enjoy working on challenging projects in a fast-paced, exciting environment, we may have opportunities for you.

Ward and Smith is an equal opportunity employer. We offer a competitive compensation and benefits package and professional development training/education opportunities aimed at ensuring long term employment.

Legal Staff
If you are interested in attorney career opportunities, please submit your resume to:

           Ms. Joy Scarbrough
           Legal Recruiting Coordinator
           Ward and Smith, P.A.
           PO Box 867
           New Bern, NC 28563
           ejs@wardandsmith.com
           fax: 252-672-5477

Support Staff
If you are interested in any one or more of the support staff opportunities listed below, please submit your resume along with salary requirements to:

Greenville
	Business Paralegal Foreclosure Paralegal Mail Room Messengers
New Bern
	Trusts and Estates Paralegal File Clerk IT Technology Engineer Applications Development Programmer
Raleigh
	Word Processor - part time
Wilmington
	Mail Room Messenger - part and full time positions

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Recruiting/Careers