OUR PROGRAM'S PHILOSOPHY
Our program is designed to take maximum advantage of the opportunity which we have in the legal industry to employ summer associates. Summer clerkship allows both the firm and candidates for permanent positions a trial or test run prior to committing to a permanent employment relationship. The philosophy underlying our Program has always been to take maximum advantage of this opportunity by making the summer associate experience mirror what it is like to be employed by the Firm after graduation, as an associate. To accomplish this end, we provide our summer associates with real work assignments involving real cases and issues. We attempt to avoid purely academic pursuits such as writing articles or researching issues that have no relationship to client work. We strive to provide a working environment that allows the summer associate to experience what it is like to practice law as an associate attorney. Only by treating our summer associates similarly to associates, including the challenges and responsibilities that all attorneys face, can they experience what it would be like to work here in the future. The feedback which we have consistently received is that these efforts are successful.
To carry out our philosophy, we have incorporated a number of formal components into our program, including training; rotation; assignments of real work involving real cases; mentorship; weekly monitoring involving both constructive comments to and feedback from the summer associates; client contact; and participation in social events and community functions.
