At ease, partners. You did it again. This year's summer associates are going back to law school with tales of being wined and dined, mentored and supported. They've met prominent partners and elite clients, been assigned interesting work and lived the life of Big Law-lite: Work hard by day, play harder at night.

Yes, we did survey 3,471 summer associates this year from more than 70 law firms, and we ranked the firms by how much the associates liked the experience. But the average summer associate at the lowest-ranked firms still walked away more satisfied and optimistic than the vast majority of associates feel by the time they respond to our Midlevel Associates Survey.