More than 1,000 students from around the world graduated from NYU Law School on May 17, 2018, at the Hulu Theater Madison Square Garden. Photo: David Handschuh/NYLJ

While most law firms are standing by their commitment to offer a summer associate program this year, the majority of firms have condensed their programs to a fraction of their original length, according to a National Association of Law Placement study released Thursday.

In the study, based on the responses of 391 law offices and 155 law schools, NALP found that 86% of law offices that responded are still planning to hold a summer program—and more than half of these will be all virtual, amid the coronavirus pandemic.

About 10 weeks has long been the standard length of a summer program, but nearly two-thirds of firm respondents said that they've pivoted to 5- or 6-week programs this year. Some large firms are going further, with Kirkland & Ellis whittling down its summer program to two weeks and Sidley Austin and Baker & Hostetler down to at least four weeks.

Many in the industry say a pared-down program is still better than nothing. "It makes sense to condense it. It's very much about the substance over the length," Nathan Peart, the managing director of Major, Lindsey & Africa's associate practice group, told The American Lawyer last month.

Overall, of those firms that were still planning to hold a summer program, 55% said they would hold all-virtual programs, according to NALP, whose surveys were conducted in May. Meanwhile, 40% said they would use a hybrid model if possible, starting virtual and hopefully transitioning to in-person later in the summer.

Only 5% of law offices that were planning to hold a summer program said their program would be entirely in-person. These were largely offices in the South and Midwest. In contrast, firms in the Mid-Atlantic (66%) and the Northeast (65%) were more inclined to move their summer associate programs entirely online.

Among the firms that canceled their summer associate programs, the vast majority (86%) said they extended job offers to at least some of the 2L students who were set to spend the summer with them. But as many 2020 law school graduates have had their full-time associate start date pushed back until at least January 2021, it remains to be seen when the majority of the graduates in 2021 will start full-time work.

News of adjusted summer associate programs has been circulating for months as many law firms shifted to indefinite remote work starting in mid-March. Even as states begin to reopen, many law firm attorneys and staff—as well as their summer associates—remain home for the foreseeable future.

NALP also surveyed 155 law schools for the study and found that over half of schools (51%) have established 2L on-campus interview dates for recruiting the class of 2022 for summer 2021 programs, but many of them have pushed back the dates, largely from July and August of 2020 to at least January 2021. The push comes as many law schools shifted to a pass/fail grading system this spring.

Read More:

Summer Associate Programs and COVID-19: How Law Firms Are Responding

Is a 2-Week Summer Associate Program Even Worth It? Kirkland Isn't the Only Firm That Thinks So

Top Law Schools Say Firms Are Pushing to Delay Summer Associate Hiring