Scarinci Hollenbeck's 2020 summer associate class and firm lawyers. Standing, left to right: Laura M. Miller and Donald Scarinci. Seated, left to right: Priya Angara, Amir Botros and Sarah McConnell. Credit: Scelia Photography.

Editor's Note: This story is adapted from ALM's Mid-Market Report. For more business of law coverage exclusively geared toward midsize firms, sign up for a free trial subscription to ALM's weekly newsletter, The Mid-Market Report.

Despite having fewer resources, many midsize law firms remain committed to holding their summer associate classes during the pandemic—even more so than some big firms.

Leaders of midsize firms view the programs as a key recruitment tool for upcoming talent, and many plan to hold their programs at their original, full-length term. Still, whether the firms can guarantee jobs to summers after law school graduation is another question.

According to a May survey of legal employers by the National Association for Law Placement, about 95% of firms with 100 attorneys or fewer were planning to go forward with their summer programs. That was the highest percentage among all sizes of firms that were originally planning to host a program, according to the NALP results.

In comparison, about 80% of firms with 101 to 250 attorneys said they were still planning to host programs, and 67% of firms with 250 to 500 lawyers were still planning to host a program, with the other third in that group changing plans. Indeed, several big firms made news this spring when they canceled their programs due to the pandemic, including Dickinson Wright; Nixon Peabody; Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart; and the merged firm of Troutman Pepper.

Overall, 86% of law offices of all sizes that originally planned a program were still planning to hold one, the NALP results show.

Many midsize firms are in a weaker position to attract top talent compared with much larger firms, making them more reliant on summer programs to retain upcoming lawyers, noted Marcie Borgal Shunk, a law firm consultant and founder of the Tilt Institute. "Maintaining the recruitment relationships with the law school is important," she said.

Midsize firms are also intent to keep summers programs to "continue to diversify the talent pool," while law firm leaders have learned lessons from the Great Recession, she said. "You will hear managing partners and leaders say one of their biggest mistakes was to cancel summer associate programs or freeze hiring [in the last recession], because it left them with a gap in their talent pool," she noted.

At 65-attorney Scarinci Hollenbeck, based in New Jersey, the firm hired three summer associates, even after it furloughed some staff and laid off some attorneys this year in practices such as real estate that were hit hard by the recession.

Donald Scarinci, the firm's founding partner, said its partners never considered canceling the program. Scarinci Hollenbeck hired the summers for a 10-week program starting June 9.

"We made furloughs and made personnel cuts to accommodate the work-from-home environment and to accommodate the recession," Scarinci said, declining to say how many people were let go. "When we were looking at the cuts we needed to make and what needed to be done differently, the summer associate program wasn't something we needed to cut. We thought we needed it."

Scarinci said the firm hires its junior associates from the summer associate pool. "It's an important component institutionally for the firm," he said, noting the firm also "needs to take some responsibility to train future lawyers."

Like previous years, Scarinci Hollenbeck's summer associates will help lawyers in various practice areas. The summer associates will also have the opportunity to participate with attorneys in virtual depositions, trials and motion practice and may get to visit virtual board meetings, Scarinci said.

The firm's summer program did undergo changes this year, including its compensation, maximum hours and supervision. Summer associates are working 50% of regular summer hours—averaging about 20 hours each week—and, in turn, getting paid about half as much as previous years.

This means summer associates at the firm can earn up to $650 a week for the 20 hours, Scarinci said, compared with $1,300 a week for 40 hours in previous years. The firm scaled back the hours because it's more difficult to supervise and train the summer associates when they are working remotely, he said. The entire program is virtual, except for the initial orientation.

Going the Distance

Many big firms condensed their summer programs this year. According to the NALP survey, nearly two-thirds of firm respondents said that they've pivoted to five- or six-week programs.

But firms with 100 or fewer attorneys were somewhat more likely to have a standard length program, according to the NALP survey results, with 22% of firms in this bracket planning more than eight weeks.

That's the case for both Scarinci Hollenbeck and Rumberger, Kirk & Caldwell, a 95-attorney firm mainly based in Florida.

The Florida firm started a summer program on June 8 for three associates in its Orlando, Miami and Tampa locations. The firm is continuing to pay summers as it did before, about $1,800 a week, said managing partner Frank Sheppard.

The length of the program is about nine weeks, just a little shorter than previous years' 10 weeks, but the firm started it a bit later, he said. Some associates have been in the offices during portions of the program, and the firm may bring them in for a mock trial at the end if conditions safely allow it, Sheppard said.

At one point, the firm considered canceling the program, Sheppard said, but "we gave it a lot of thought and we thought we could accomplish our goals," and the firm felt a commitment to the summers.

The program has been in existence for close to 30 years and many of the firm's partners have gone through it. "It's our principal recruiting tool," Sheppard said.

The firm has made virtual its usual workshops and seminars on topics like depositions, opening and closing statements. For example, the students will attend a virtual seminar on depositions and then depose a partner acting as a plaintiff via video conference.

In lieu of some social events, RumbergerKirk has hosted virtual happy hours for the summers. and also set up virtual coffee meetings between summers and their supervisors. "Because sometimes if you don't schedule things, they don't happen. You don't have the experience to walk down the hall, and talk about a case project or shoot the breeze," Sheppard said.  "We are trying to set up a schedule that has to be more intentional, we want to make sure they still get that experience."

The Job Outlook

Sheppard said his goal is to have summer associates at Rumberger Kirk "come back on a long-term basis." But for many midsize firms, post-graduation job guarantees that big firms frequently extended this year for summers are less feasible.

For instance, for those law firms that canceled their summer 2020 programs, 40% of firms under 250 lawyers said they didn't make job offers for full-time employment after graduation to any 2Ls who were originally going to summer, compared with only 16.7% of firms with over 700 lawyers that didn't make offers to return.

While midsize firms remain committed to summer programs, they are less likely to offer guaranteed offers for jobs after graduation, even without a pandemic, Shunk, the law firm consultant, confirmed. That's partly due to the risk associated with uncertainty, she said, "and with limited resources, sometimes midsize firms need to be more selective and prioritize."