Summer Associate Programs and COVID-19: How Law Firms Are Responding
A firm-by-firm guide to how Big Law is shifting its summer plans in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
May 20, 2020 at 11:30 AM
15 minute read
The original version of this story was published on The American Lawyer
Big firms have been forced to shorten, cancel or otherwise shift their summer associate programs in light of closed offices across the country, remote working arrangements and the economic toll from the coronavirus pandemic. We will continue to update the list below as changes continue to roll in.
|Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
The firm's summer program will run remotely for five weeks between July 6 and Aug. 7. Summer associates will receive compensation for the initially scheduled 10 weeks. The firm expects that all 2L participants will receive opportunities to return as full-time associates following their graduation and that 1L participants will receive an offer to return as second-year summer associates.
|Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer
The firm said it will transform its summer associate program into a five-week remote program. The firm expects all 2Ls will receive offers to join the firm as first-year associates in 2021.
|Baker Botts
The firm said it will defer the start of its 2020 summer program by at least a month. It expects to host an online summer training program with a "robust curriculum that will provide our income class with interactive, remote professional development opportunities," according to a Baker Botts statement. Also, the firm will extend offers to all summer associates, contingent on maintaining strong academic performance.
|Baker McKenzie
The firm is running an abbreviated 5-week virtual program, starting on June 29, in both the U.S. and Canada. Summer associates will be paid for five weeks, and will not be affected by pay cuts at the firm. Baker McKenzie's recruitment team will also plan holding in-person networking events or in-office work if it is logistically feasible.
|Baker & Hostetler
The firm is cutting its summer associate program to four weeks and will be holding it remotely. Compensation will be based on those four weeks that associates are employed by the firm.
|Best Best & Krieger
The California-based law firm cut its program to two weeks because of the inherent limits of a remote program, said Danielle Sakai, the firm's chief talent officer. A major part of Best's summer program is that the associates attend city council meetings and meet with public officials in person. "That's not something we can provide safely at this point in time," Sakai said.
|Blank Rome
Blank Rome confirmed Monday that it plans to host a five-week program beginning July 6. "If health conditions and government orders prevent us from starting the program in July, we will convert summer offers into future offers," the firm said.
|Boies Schiller Flexner
Litigation-focused Boies was among the first firms to tell law students that it was sticking with its planned summer program, with managing partners Nick Gravante and Natasha Harrison saying it was an easy decision to make. Gravante said the point of the program is to give rising lawyers a "dose of reality" and the program will be fully remote, if need be.
|Bracewell
The summer associate program will not start before June 15, a firm spokesman said on April 13, declining to comment further.
|Cahill Gordon & Reindel
The New York firm said April 7 it was suspending its summer associate program but will offer jobs upon graduation in 2021 to would-be participants and will still pay the 30 summer associates "in full for the summer." Cahill's statement said it would give the class a chance to assist remotely with the firm's pro bono work over the summer, and if risks abate enough to make in-person work possible, it would "find appropriate ways" to resume the program for "some portion of the summer."
|Covington & Burling
The firm on April 10 confirmed it will have a "fully remote" summer program. "Depending upon the recommendations of public health officials, we may have an in-person program in July," a spokesperson said.
|Cravath, Swaine & Moore
Cravath Swaine & Moore confirmed it will offer a shortened six-week program that is scheduled to run between June 15 and July 24, although summer associates will be guaranteed pay for 10 weeks. While the program is scheduled to start virtually, it's been communicated that transitioning on-site looks increasingly unlikely. Cravath will extend offers to 2Ls to join the firm as associates in 2021 and for 1Ls to return as summer associates.
|Davis Polk & Wardwell
Davis Polk & Wardwell told its 133 summer associates April 9 that it will still pay them and offer them full-time jobs upon graduation, regardless of whether the program happens as planned. The firm's hiring partners, Maurice Blanco and Dana Seshens, said in an email that the firm is "evaluating our alternatives" to the typical summer program experience because of the hazard posed by the coronavirus pandemic.
|DLA Piper
The firm is reducing the summer program from 10 to five weeks but there's no decision yet about whether it will be held remotely or in person, the firm's leaders said in an April 13 interview.
|Dickinson Wright
The firm said it canceled its summer program but is providing everyone in the summer class an offer.
|Dorsey & Whitney
The firm is shortening its summer associate program from 10 weeks to seven weeks and is deferring the start date of the incoming 2020 first-year associate class to January 2021.
|Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath
According to a statement on May 13, the firm has deferred the start of its summer associate program to no earlier than July 6, 2020 and is evaluating the program's format. The firm also anticipates deferring the start date for the fall associate class, though it is still considering options, the statement said.
|FordHarrison
The labor and employment firm canceled its summer associate program. This affects five law students, said managing partner Al McKenna, who said it didn't make sense to bring in summer associates when offices are working remotely for the foreseeable future.
|Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
The firm shortened its summer program in the U.S. to six weeks. Whether the program is virtual or in-person varies by office, but each summer associate will be compensated for the full amount of time they were originally scheduled to be at the firm.
|Haynes and Boone
The summer associate program will run for six weeks—from June 22 through July 31, according to a spokesman for the firm. Compensation has not been determined, but associates can request a $7,500 advance against their summer salary.
|Husch Blackwell
Chairman Greg Smith said on April 14 that the firm has deferred the start of its summer program for five weeks but the firm plans to run a five-week, second-half program. The program would start in late June, he said.
|Jenner & Block
The firm is still considering the format of its summer program and is "waiting to see how things develop," a firm spokeswoman said April 10. "Everybody's safety is our top priority," she added.
|Kirkland & Ellis
Kirkland's program will last two weeks with a June 15 start date, and the firm is paying its associates what they were set to receive when the program was running at full length. Kirkland is extending job offers to associates who graduate from law school in 2021, while associates who graduate in 2022 will be able to participate in next year's program.
|Latham & Watkins
Latham's summer and 1L programs will be all virtual this year and start June 1. The shortened program will end after eight weeks on July 24, which a Latham spokeswoman noted was the original end date for the program. The firm will also still honor its full financial commitments to those associates and to first-year fellows, a spokeswoman said on May 4.
|Milbank
The firm's program was delayed to June 8 and would be offered fully remotely, but it would still last 10 weeks and participants would receive full pay.
|Morgan Lewis & Bockius
The firm's summer program, now starting June 1, has been reduced to six weeks and will be fully virtual, but participants will be paid for the originally intended 10 weeks. "We have been very thoughtful in ways to utilize our virtual platform that will allow for substantive, engaging and creative opportunities while providing a clear sense of our firm culture," said a spokesperson for the firm in late April.
|Munck Wilson Mandala
A Texas-based firm with 70 lawyers, Munck Wilson Mandala plans to have its summer associates program with 11 associates starting on May 24. With the state opening up due to the expiration of Gov. Greg Abbott's stay-at-home order, Munck Wilson Mandala's summer associate program will be held in-person, said managing partner William Munck. Munck added, however, that if the associates are uncomfortable or unable to go to the office, the program will be done virtually.
|Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr
The firm moved the start date of its summer associate program to July 6, shortening the traditional 10-week program to six weeks, and eliminated its 1L program this year.
|Nixon Peabody
Nixon Peabody said it has canceled its summer program altogether and will instead offer its summer associates a $5,000 stipend. First-year summer associates will be considered for automatic placement in next summer's class, the firm said.
|Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart
The labor and employment firm has canceled its summer associate program. "The current environment, including remote working models, makes it very challenging to offer a high-quality and immersive learning experience for summer associates," a spokesperson said in an April 13 email. Ogletree had planned to field a class of 36 law students in 22 of its U.S. offices.
|Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
Orrick said it will conduct its 2020 summer associate program virtually and shorten the program's length to five weeks. It is giving permanent offers now to 2L law students to return to the firm as associates after graduation and is giving current 1Ls offers to return to the firm next summer.
|Reed Smith
A firm spokesperson said April 10 that Reed Smith was "still evaluating and communicating with schools and our summer associates and will shortly make a decision about the summer program."
|Ropes & Gray
Ropes & Gray will offer its summer associates a 5-week remote program starting July 6, a firm spokeswoman said on May 5. However, the firm will pay the associates the full salary they were anticipating for the original length of the program. The firm will allow associates to use some of their time in the program to participate in a pro bono project or community service. "We will provide a robust program of briefings and trainings to give summer associates a good idea of what life is like at Ropes & Gray," the spokeswoman said.
|Schulte Roth & Zabel
The firm's summer program will be shortened to five weeks but it will pay summer associates for the full 11-week program it had anticipated, totaling $40,194 for each associate. Schulte anticipates that most, if not all, of the program will be conducted remotely, with no requirement to be in New York. The program will still include its regular features, including client work assignments, deal and trial practice trainings and pro bono work.
Schulte is providing each summer associate with a personal IT setup, including a laptop and monitors, and will offer access to its wellness programs, including its employee assistance program, a free and confidential counseling service. The firm intends to make offers of post-graduation employment to all summer associates.
|Seyfarth Shaw
The firm is canceling its summer fellow program, but plans to provide stipends and extend offers for those 2020 summer fellows to join Seyfarth Shaw as senior fellows in the fall of 2021. Senior fellows who were supposed to start working at Seyfarth this fall will now start in January 2021.
|Shearman & Sterling
The firm said on May 11 that its program, to be conducted virtually, will be shortened to five weeks starting June 22. But summer associates will still receive 10 weeks of pay, reflecting the original program length "and the importance we place on the participants," the firm said. If summer associates live in the location of the hiring office, the office may arrange for some in-person interactions, depending on local conditions, the firm said. The firm's program will incorporate practice group information sessions, mentoring circles, pro bono opportunities, social events and interactions with our partners and business services staff, the firm said.
|Sidley Austin
Sidley Austin's summer associate programs will be at least four weeks long, but the start times will vary by office. Sidley's program in its New York office will start July 6 and end July 31. The firm is paying its associates the full amount they were going to receive when the program was running at full length.
|Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
The firm will have a five-week virtual program, from July 13 through August 14. Their summer associates will get eight weeks of pay. Simpson is also offering summers an additional $7,500 stipend for community service work, according to an email sent to summer associates on May 7. "The combination of 8 weeks' salary and the $7,500 stipend will result in total compensation of slightly more than 10 weeks of summer associate pay, which is the average duration of our traditional summer program," the firm's email said.
To be eligible for the stipend, the firm's email said, it expected summer associates to "volunteer your services for a set minimum amount of time" to a charitable, nonprofit or community service group of their choosing, or outreach program of their own design, by Sept. 1.
|Thompson Hine
The firm plans to delay the start until after July 4 and have it run for six weeks, as the firm places a premium on a face-to-face summer associate program, a spokesperson said on April 14.
|Thompson & Knight
In an April 9 statement, the firm said it intends to delay the state of the summer associate program to June 22. "The situation remains fluid and we are not sure what the program will look like, but we are preparing for a unique and insightful experience that will allow our summers to get to know the firm and build key skills for the future," the statement said.
|Troutman Sanders/Pepper Hamilton
Troutman Sanders and Pepper Hamilton have canceled their summer associate program. The firms are set to merge July 1 after pushing back their initial April 1 merger date. They are making offers to the rising 3Ls in their respective summer programs to join the combined firm, Troutman Pepper, as full-time associates in the fall of 2021, and they are giving rising 2Ls offers to return as summer associates next year. Each firm, without providing details, said it was providing summer associates with "financial assistance."
|Venable
The firm said April 10 it will not start its summer program May 18 and will not have a 10-week program, as originally planned. "We will be in touch with them as soon as we have more information and make decisions about the summer program," Venable said of participants.
|Vinson & Elkins
The firm's program will run remotely from June 15 through July 17, according to a statement on May 12 from hiring partner Steve Gill. All summer associates will be compensated based on the number of weeks they originally committed to work at the firm — up to a maximum of 10 weeks — rather than the weeks in the shorter virtual program. With the program starting later than expected, the firm will pay the summer associates an advance of one week's salary on May 30. The firm "currently expects" to make associate offers to all of the 2L participants and return offers to all of the 1L participants, assuming they participate actively in the firm's virtual program, Gill wrote.
|Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
The firm's summer associate program started virtually on May 11. The program would last the full duration and thus participants would get full pay, according to a source familiar with the program. For its first-year associate class, Wachtell has pushed back its normal start date a couple of weeks to accommodate the new September date for the New York bar exam.
|Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Wilson Sonsini on May 1 took its summer associate program online and reduced its length from 10 weeks to six weeks, starting June 15. Summer associates will be paid $3,654 per week during the program, and will be able to join Wilson Sonsini as a fall associate in 2021. The firm is also giving associates the ability to earn their credit by performing six weeks of legal work for a qualified nonprofit of their choice.
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- Cahill Gordon & Reindel
- Ropes & Gray
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- Davis Polk & Wardwell
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- Venable
- Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C.
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- Husch Blackwell
- Best Best & Krieger
- Baker Botts
- Nixon Peabody
- Vinson & Elkins
- Munsch Hardt Kopf
- Jenner & Block
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