Here’s how the “Cravath System” works. Bring lots of new employees in, team them up with mentors, provide real work to do, and give them a choice: either get lots of great experience and get out, or work hard for a higher-up position. Whenever you hear someone aspire to “make partner”, he’s undoubtedly working at a firm that’s adopted this model.

Since its inception in the early 1900’s, the Cravath System has spread to tens of thousands of different companies in different professions, ranging from accounting to urban planning. Robert T. Swaine, in his 1947 book The Cravath Firm And Its Predecessors, describes the result of its use: