It's good to be the king, But if you can't be king, being a summer associate comes in a close second. The attitude of the respondents to the 2005 Summer Associates Survey could be summed up by the remark of an intern at Atlanta's Arnall Golden & Gregory: "The phenomenon of the summer associate program is a mystery to me, but I certainly enjoy it."
The anxiety brought on by the high-tech bust--still marked just two years ago--is nowhere in sight. Summers seemed relatively unconcerned about whether they'd get an offer. They even seemed less concerned about portraying themselves as committed law firm "lifers." O'Melveny & Myers partner Brian Brooks says he thinks that law students today are on "the verge of a generational shift." In the 1980s, Brooks says, most law students viewed partnership in a law firm as the high point of a legal career. He says that today's law students, in contrast, show "a much greater desire" to pursue nonlegal and non-law-firm-related activities.
Many of the 5,734 respondents from 189 firms were careful to hedge their bets, though, using their weeks or months on board to scrutinize their law firms as long-term job prospects. But firms also seem to have gotten savvier about giving summers what they want. The roster at the top changed remarkably little, considering how flat our curve is. (Of 156 firms, the bottom-ranked firm rated 4.032 on a scale of 1 to 5, compared with 4.890 for the top-ranked firm, a difference of only 0.858.) This year's top four firms--in order, Miles & Stockbridge; Buchanan Ingersoll; Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher; and Bell, Boyd & Lloyd--all appeared in the top ten last year. Nine of this year's ten best scored in the top half of last year's survey.
Summer interns were impatient to find out what life as a "real" lawyer is all about, and firms were happy to accommodate. Comments about make-work were few. Summers marveled at their chances to participate in client meetings with CEOs, draft court papers, and pitch in on significant matters. "I expected that because the clientele is all big business with important issues, the firm would not dare give us Ôreal' work," said one Jones Day clerk. "But everything I did was real--no fake projects. Except, of course, the mock trial and mock deposition." A Fulbright & Jaworski clerk wrote about working "on a high-profile case that was in the newspapers every day." A Greenberg Traurig summer went on a two-week arbitration where he prepared his own witness. "That was awesome!" this intern wrote.
At the same time, summers had few qualms about rolling up their sleeves. Survey results showed that clerks averaged 45.2 hours per week. Some put in far longer hours, especially at the big New York firms. "I did not expect to have to work every weekend day, four weekends in a row, under deadline pressure," grumbled a summer at Cravath, Swaine & Moore (who gave the firm lower-than-average marks overall).
Pro bono projects have been a mainstay of the summer associate diet for years. Two projects popular at multiple firms--representing Guant‡namo Bay detainees and working with Habitat for Humanity International--featured prominently among many summers' memorable moments. Two clerks at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr wrote about going to Alabama to collect data for a voting rights project. Several summers at Schulte Roth & Zabel mentioned taking children from a shelter to visit the Bronx Zoo. Other unforgettable experiences included interviewing a client in a maximum security prison, helping people win political asylum, and arguing--and winning--a Division of Unemployment Assistance case.
But 2005's summer programs were hardly all work and no play. Summers still got to party like it was 1999--the height of the boom. In fact, the dual pressure of work and social obligations had some interns begging for a break. "The intensity of the social calendar is killing me," complained a Latham & Watkins clerk. "Do they really think I'm going to turn down an offer because they didn't buy me enough drinks and go-kart rides?" A White & Case clerk griped that the firm's lawyers "really push you to go on these long three-hour summer lunches, but then say you can only mark down one hour toward the required eight hours in the day. Often that means you have to stay late to make up the time."
Still, social events made many summers' "most memorable" lists, including a number of multiday, firmwide summer training and orientation sessions. Latham & Watkins sent its clerks to Scottsdale, Arizona, and Gibson, Dunn convened all its summers in Los Angeles. Clifford Chance, Linklaters, and Dechert all took advantage of their London presences to send their U.S. clerks across the pond for orientation. Other popular activities: karaoke, rock climbing, trapeze school, kayaking trips, surfing camp, concerts, and theater. Proskauer Rose had an especially action-packed schedule that included the Tony Awards, the NBA draft, dinner at the United Nations, and playing basketball on the big court at Madison Square Garden.
Small gestures meant a lot, too. A Cozen O'Connor summer wrote about a birthday party the firm threw him "with cake, candles, and little jugs of milk." When a Jones Day summer got sick and had to spend a few days in the hospital, the firm's lawyers were "amazingly" supportive, sending flowers, and calling and visiting her, she wrote.
With all the attention and money being lavished on them, students used to beans-and-rice budgets and long, dull hours in the library seemed hesitant to complain. But many did, and, by far, diversity--or the lack of it--ranked as the most widespread concern. A Kirkland & Ellis clerk noted with dismay that the Chicago summer class of 73 had only 19 women. (According to the firm, there were actually 27 women in a class of 65. Chicago recruiting chairwoman Linda Myers says that the firm is working to ensure that the proportion of women will be higher in 2006, as it had been in previous years.) And summers gave low marks for politically incorrect behavior. An Asian American clerk at Greenberg Traurig faulted attorneys for "ethnic jokes made out of seemingly unmalicious intent, but still inappropriate." (Firm CEO Cesar Alvarez expressed dismay at the complaint. If the incident had been reported, he says, "I can assure you that the person [who made the jokes] would have gotten a call from me.") On the plus side, other firms got kudos for their commitment to diversity. A Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison clerk of Middle Eastern descent applauded the firm's "genuine level of diversity." An African American clerk praised the diversity of Bingham McCutchen's summer class, noting that five of 26 were gay and nine of 26 were from minority groups.
Another widespread grievance--and one that persists year after year--concerned lack of feedback. "The most feedback I ever received from an attorney outside of the two formal reviews consisted of a two-line e-mail," said one DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary clerk. Clerks also griped about mixed signals regarding the hiring process. "There is a lot of double-talk about what is expected from summers and what they are doing well/badly," said a Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham summer. "Don't say, ÔRelax and enjoy your summer,' when what you mean is, ÔWork 60-hour weeks.' "
Summers also chided firms for outdated equipment, practices, and policies. Calls to update Jurassic telephone systems, computers, and Web sites were common, as were complaints about lack of recycling and lack of vegetarian food. At Shearman & Sterling, the office eating facility open only to lawyers surprised one clerk. "What's up with the Lawyers' Dining Room?" this student wrote. "The food is terrific, but the segregation between the attorneys and staff is a little old-school." Formal dress codes were another cause for complaint: "Coat and tie doesn't work very well in the Valley of the Sun," grumbled a clerk at Phoenix's Snell & Wilmer.
As in past years, leaders outstripped laggards in two categories in particular: training and guidance and communicating the firm's goals and expectations for its summer associates. Baltimore's Miles & Stockbridge tweaked its already highly rated program to move to this year's top spot, up from fifth last year and fifteenth the year before that. Toward that end, the firm sponsors "15 or 20" training programs that focus on the real-world practice of law, including an oral advocacy clinic with a performance coach, a writing workshop, a program on balancing work and family, and even a workshop on dining etiquette. The firm also strives to give its summers a slice of real-life practice: "If you work on a litigation matter, you go to the hearing or the trial; if you work on a corporate transaction, you go to the negotiations," says chairman John Frisch. Clerks appreciated the effort, giving the firm a 4.89 rating for training, the highest in the survey.
New York's Schulte Roth is another firm that has further refined a strong program to capture fourth place this year, up from eleventh place in 2004 and nineteenth in 2003. Marc Elovitz, the partner in charge of the summer program, says the firm spends "a huge amount" of time on the program. The firm has an online feedback system that lets clerks rate programs throughout the summer. "It's very useful to figure out what's working and what's not," Elovitz says. Mainstays of the program, whose 4.71 rating for training was seventh-highest in the survey, include a one-week mock trial program, in which a real jury deliberates on closed-circuit television, and a week working at nonprofit groups around the city.
Two of the top ten firms were newcomers to the upper ranks. New York's Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz rose from sixty-seventh last year to sixth place this year, and Philadelphia's Drinker Biddle & Reath shot from 131st to eighth. Neither firm claimed any major overhaul. "It was more of a tweaking," says Audrey Talley, Drinker's hiring partner. Drinker summers spoke a lot about the personal attention they received from partners, associates, and the summer committee. Getting an iPod Mini at the welcoming dinner probably didn't hurt, either.
Wachtell's recruiting committee chair John Savarese said they didn't even tweak the program this year. But the firm seemed to sell itself. Summers at Wachtell appeared collectively in awe of the place. "The Mount Olympus of corporate law," wrote one. "Wachtell, Lipton is a true nirvana of the mind," wrote another. They seemed relieved to discover that attorneys and fellow clerks alike appeared relatively "normal," and were ready to throw in their lot with the place, despite a relatively frill-free, hardworking summer. Two clerks pleaded for BlackBerrys: "There's no reason to pretend we aren't expected to work late or on the weekends," said one.
Schulte and Wachtell aside, the big New York firms didn't fare well. Only three broke the top 20, while eight crowded the bottom 20. This year's last-place finisher, New York's Sullivan & Cromwell, didn't do anything terribly wrong--it still scored over a 4. The firm's hiring partner, Keith Pagnani, says the survey results "are wholly inconsistent with the uniformly positive feedback we received from summer associates." Still, lack of feedback (from firm lawyers) was a fairly common complaint, along with gripes about unfriendly and "extreme" partners, too much work, and lack of guidance. "The word Ômentor' obviously has no meaning for some partners and associates," one clerk grumbled.
A different set of problems plagued DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary, which underwent two mergers in 2004, between Piper Rudnick and Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich, and then with London's DLA. It dropped from thirty-seventh last year in its premerger incarnation as Piper Rudnick to 138th place this year. Summer experiences seemed to vary tremendously from office to office. A Washington, D.C., intern spoke glowingly of the "incredible energy going around the firm right now because of all the mergers, while a Chicago clerk noted "how stressed-out everyone is," and a Dallas summer wrote about "the lack of collegiality and how the office has not yet identified a strong leader or office culture." National hiring cochairman Benjamin Boyd blamed the mergers. "We anticipated a lot of challenges as we integrated our programs," he says. "We're certainly disappointed, but we think this year is an anomaly."
Flat as our curve is, efforts can and do pay off in a better showing in the survey. Case in point: O'Melveny & Myers vaulted more than 110 spots to twenty-eighth, from 140th last year. The firm's poor performance in 2004's survey "made us refocus our thinking," says Washington, D.C., partner Brian Brooks. Committees of hiring, employment, summer, recruiting, and development partners and employees started planning 2005's program early on, sharing ideas and practices across offices. The firm also worked hard to get its partners "out front," says Brooks. Not only did the firm's numbers shoot up across all seven offices, but summers raved about the "great" social events, "interesting, real work," and "phenomenal interaction" between partners and associates.
For the most part, the summer programs seemed to accomplish what they set out to do. As one Bingham McCutchen summer put it: "This may seem cynical, but I was surprised that the representations that I had heard about the firm actually seem to be true. People do like working here, the quality of life does seem high, and the firm does appear to value its employees as more than sweatshop laborers. I'm sold." Let's hope he gets an offer.
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