Summer Associate: Thoughts, Anxieties, Experiences, etc. Forum

[NYstate]

If I received an in-all-ways positive mid-summer review but just got an epic verbal beatdown from an associate for screwing up an assignment, how much do I worry, 1-10 scale?

Firm historically gives offers to summers.

What did you do?

Wrote a really unhelpful memo on an area of law and a type of format/assignment with which I was unfamiliar, told it was completely not acceptable.

What do you mean by really unhelpful? How long was it? Etc.

Did they give you a chance to redo it? How connected is this associate and the partner it was for? Do you have partners who are happy with your work? (as opposed to mostly working with associates)

Here is the deal: completely unacceptable is a problem. But if the firm usually gives everyone offers and your other work is good you are probably fine. If the memo disappointed the most important partner in the group or one of the most important in the firm, you might be screwed. That is the only way I see you not getting an offer if the firm is making offers to everyone and wants to keep that rate.

[Anonymous User]

were you given an opportunity to fix it or make amends with the associate?

Not original poster. What does this mean? That it wasn't so bad that you're considered hopeless?

I had a similar situation. I wrote a memo that wasn't formatted the way the associate wanted, and she wanted me to dig deeper into one part of the memo and fix two grammatical errors. Told me to write a new draft, I went and did it. My review after that was fine and didn't mention that specific assignment at all.

[alicrimson]

were you given an opportunity to fix it or make amends with the associate?

Not original poster. What does this mean? That it wasn't so bad that you're considered hopeless?

I had a similar situation. I wrote a memo that wasn't formatted the way the associate wanted, and she wanted me to dig deeper into one part of the memo and fix two grammatical errors. Told me to write a new draft, I went and did it. My review after that was fine and didn't mention that specific assignment at all.

I assume that's what it means. We had another poster who had format issues with an associate who was allowed to redraft and fix a cite or two. The consensus said this wasn't fatal.

[Flips88]

I assume that's what it means. We had another poster who had format issues with an associate who was allowed to redraft and fix a cite or two. The consensus said this wasn't fatal.

This is the essence of drafting. The associate isn't trying to submarine you...they just want to make the product presentable to either the partner or client. You're not always going to knock it out of the park on the first draft, especially when the associate may have their own personal thoughts on how they want it formatted and stuff. FWIW, my second assignment was a memo and I submitted a draft to the associate. He said the content was good but just needed to be moved around a bit. I reworked it and all was fine after that. The comments for my midsummer review were something to the effect of the analysis was great and I was "receptive to feedback."

[NYstate]

Being given feedback and asked to redo it is a very positive sign. Sometimes people don't know what they want until you give it to them.

The " completely unacceptable" associate may have been over reacting to the SA anyway.
It is difficult to tell. Redoing something shows they think your work is worthwhile and you are smart enough to fix it.

[Peyton]

A few cohorts are wrapping up their SA today. A couple of others end next week. So far no one I know has been offered or no-offered. What’s the deal with that? Do most firms hold off until the partners get around to meeting, be it this month or next? Anyone here receive a solid thumb up or down?

[Anonymous User]

So, offers will be given out at my firm next week. I will likely accept, but I am also applying to the DOJ Honors program. Chances are DOJ won't accept me given how the program has been really cut down. But what if they ask me whether I am considering alternative positions? I am doing corporate law in an office far from DC, so mentioning DOJ might raise an eyebrow, but I also don't want to say anything that might be viewed as a lie.

[Anonymous User]

A few cohorts are wrapping up their SA today. A couple of others end next week. So far no one I know has been offered or no-offered. What’s the deal with that? Do most firms hold off until the partners get around to meeting, be it this month or next? Anyone here receive a solid thumb up or down?

I haven't received my official offer because mine was a 6 week summer program and they're waiting until everyone finishes the 10 week deal but I've been told, as closely as possible without officially telling me, that I have an offer. I trust them and I know it's coming, but I haven't officially heard yet.

[alicrimson]

So...this is the last week. That feels absurd. I feel like we were just posting start dates. Getting anxious for an offer or no-offer...well, really just an offer, but I'd like to know. I guess for those of us who end on Friday, there's one more week to impress folks. Good luck!!!

[stewie27]

Four weeks left at my firm. Word is they don't get around to giving offers until October. This should be a blast...

[shock259]

Final week here.

Should be hearing on offers within ~ 1 week of the end of the summer program. Wish it was sooner. A million important people have told us that we are all fine, but it is still a bit scary.

[Lasers]

Four weeks left at my firm. Word is they don't get around to giving offers until October. This should be a blast...

damn, october!? i won't be hearing until late august or early september...and that's long enough.

[Anonymous User]

Summering at a V50. Partner sent the person in charge of allocating assignments to summers an email saying he wanted help with something. I offered and was told to email the partner directly. I emailed him and he wrote back and said "email me again in 3 days". Well, three days later I got put on a different assignment that was extremely time sensitive and took up all my time and even required me to work over the weekend and of course I forgot to get back in touch with the partner. Today the head of professional development got an email from the partner saying I never got in touch. Nothing else. She told me to apologize and offer to help, which I did but he just said 'you are no longer needed'.

Am I going to get no offered for this? It's just especially disconcerting that the partner went straight to head of PD to tell them I screwed up. Anything else I can do to mitigate?

[Lasers]

Summering at a V50. Partner sent the person in charge of allocating assignments to summers an email saying he wanted help with something. I offered and was told to email the partner directly. I emailed him and he wrote back and said "email me again in 3 days". Well, three days later I got put on a different assignment that was extremely time sensitive and took up all my time and even required me to work over the weekend and of course I forgot to get back in touch with the partner. Today the head of professional development got an email from the partner saying I never got in touch. Nothing else. She told me to apologize and offer to help, which I did but he just said 'you are no longer needed'.

Am I going to get no offered for this? It's just especially disconcerting that the partner went straight to head of PD to tell them I screwed up. Anything else I can do to mitigate?

Fuck... that's a shitty situation to be put in. Did you explain the situation when you apologized? The bottom line is you gotta roll with it since you did drop the ball.

[DildaMan]

Four weeks left at my firm. Word is they don't get around to giving offers until October. This should be a blast...

damn, october!? i won't be hearing until late august or early september...and that's long enough.

Same. Hate that waiting game.

[NYstate]

Summering at a V50. Partner sent the person in charge of allocating assignments to summers an email saying he wanted help with something. I offered and was told to email the partner directly. I emailed him and he wrote back and said "email me again in 3 days". Well, three days later I got put on a different assignment that was extremely time sensitive and took up all my time and even required me to work over the weekend and of course I forgot to get back in touch with the partner. Today the head of professional development got an email from the partner saying I never got in touch. Nothing else. She told me to apologize and offer to help, which I did but he just said 'you are no longer needed'.

Am I going to get no offered for this? It's just especially disconcerting that the partner went straight to head of PD to tell them I screwed up. Anything else I can do to mitigate?

Who knows if you will get no offered? We can't predict it. This was a very bad screw-up, not sure if you realize, but there is no point in berating you about it.
It depends if the partner is vindictive or not. I know people who would no offer you for this, but others would just not want you in their department. If it is a huge department, maybe they won't blackball you. The best case is that the partner got the help he needed, everything got done and he is on to the next case. Very hard to predict without knowing the personalities of the people involved and the firm dynamic.

You've done all you can. You don't have a good excuse and you will make it worse by going back and rehashing it.

Do you have other people who really like you?

[Anonymous User]

Summering at a V50. Partner sent the person in charge of allocating assignments to summers an email saying he wanted help with something. I offered and was told to email the partner directly. I emailed him and he wrote back and said "email me again in 3 days". Well, three days later I got put on a different assignment that was extremely time sensitive and took up all my time and even required me to work over the weekend and of course I forgot to get back in touch with the partner. Today the head of professional development got an email from the partner saying I never got in touch. Nothing else. She told me to apologize and offer to help, which I did but he just said 'you are no longer needed'.

Am I going to get no offered for this? It's just especially disconcerting that the partner went straight to head of PD to tell them I screwed up. Anything else I can do to mitigate?

Who knows if you will get no offered? We can't predict it. This was a very bad screw-up, not sure if you realize, but there is no point in berating you about it.
It depends if the partner is vindictive or not. I know people who would no offer you for this, but others would just not want you in their department. If it is a huge department, maybe they won't blackball you. The best case is that the partner got the help he needed, everything got done and he is on to the next case. Very hard to predict without knowing the personalities of the people involved and the firm dynamic.

You've done all you can. You don't have a good excuse and you will make it worse by going back and rehashing it.

Do you have other people who really like you?

I got unanimously good feedback during my midsummer review, and things seemed to be going well. I had not worked with this partner yet, however. I know that it was a bad screw up and an important aspect of being a good associate, I'm just scared of being no-offered because of a single slip-up that is unrelated to the quality of my work-product. I guess my question was less along the lines of "can you predict if I will get no-offered" and more about whether this is something that could legitimately be cited as the basis of a no-offer, even if it only happened once and everything else is fine. Or am I overreacting?

[NYstate]

Summering at a V50. Partner sent the person in charge of allocating assignments to summers an email saying he wanted help with something. I offered and was told to email the partner directly. I emailed him and he wrote back and said "email me again in 3 days". Well, three days later I got put on a different assignment that was extremely time sensitive and took up all my time and even required me to work over the weekend and of course I forgot to get back in touch with the partner. Today the head of professional development got an email from the partner saying I never got in touch. Nothing else. She told me to apologize and offer to help, which I did but he just said 'you are no longer needed'.

Am I going to get no offered for this? It's just especially disconcerting that the partner went straight to head of PD to tell them I screwed up. Anything else I can do to mitigate?

Who knows if you will get no offered? We can't predict it. This was a very bad screw-up, not sure if you realize, but there is no point in berating you about it
It depends if the partner is vindictive or not. I know people who would no offer you for this, but others would just not want you in their department. If it is a huge department, maybe they won't blackball you. The best case is that the partner got the help he needed, everything got done and he is on to the next case. Very hard to predict without knowing the personalities of the people involved and the firm dynamic.

You've done all you can. You don't have a good excuse and you will make it worse by going back and rehashing it.

Do you have other people who really like you?

I got unanimously good feedback during my midsummer review, and things seemed to be
going well. I had not worked with this partner yet, however. I know that it was a bad screw up and an important aspect of being a good associate, I'm just scared of being no-offered because of a single slip-up that is unrelated to the quality of my work-product. I guess my question was less along the lines of "can you predict if I will get no-offered" and more about whether this is something that could legitimately be cited as the basis of a no-offer, even if it only happened once and everything else is fine. Or am I overreacting?

Yes, this is a reason for a no-offer to some ( and I must emphasize some) people. Depends on the partner, how insane they are, how much power they have. This is related to your work product. You said you would be available on an important project and then didn't show up. You should have emailed when you got the next project saying you wouldn't be available or asked in advance before you took on another project.









But, does this mean you will get no offered? It seems like an honest mistake. So, I don't know. It depends on the firm, etc. There is nothing you can do now. Try not to worry about it. My guess is that if your other work is fine it will mitigate this. The worse thing you can do is obsess about it. So, I think you will most likely get an offer.

I don't know, maybe this doesn't help you.

[traehekat]

Summering at a V50. Partner sent the person in charge of allocating assignments to summers an email saying he wanted help with something. I offered and was told to email the partner directly. I emailed him and he wrote back and said "email me again in 3 days". Well, three days later I got put on a different assignment that was extremely time sensitive and took up all my time and even required me to work over the weekend and of course I forgot to get back in touch with the partner. Today the head of professional development got an email from the partner saying I never got in touch. Nothing else. She told me to apologize and offer to help, which I did but he just said 'you are no longer needed'.

Am I going to get no offered for this? It's just especially disconcerting that the partner went straight to head of PD to tell them I screwed up. Anything else I can do to mitigate?

Who knows if you will get no offered? We can't predict it. This was a very bad screw-up, not sure if you realize, but there is no point in berating you about it.
It depends if the partner is vindictive or not. I know people who would no offer you for this, but others would just not want you in their department. If it is a huge department, maybe they won't blackball you. The best case is that the partner got the help he needed, everything got done and he is on to the next case. Very hard to predict without knowing the personalities of the people involved and the firm dynamic.

You've done all you can. You don't have a good excuse and you will make it worse by going back and rehashing it.

Do you have other people who really like you?

I got unanimously good feedback during my midsummer review, and things seemed to be going well. I had not worked with this partner yet, however. I know that it was a bad screw up and an important aspect of being a good associate, I'm just scared of being no-offered because of a single slip-up that is unrelated to the quality of my work-product. I guess my question was less along the lines of "can you predict if I will get no-offered" and more about whether this is something that could legitimately be cited as the basis of a no-offer, even if it only happened once and everything else is fine. Or am I overreacting?

There's not much more you can do about it, just make sure you finish strong. Apologizing further won't help. You made a mistake, it happens. Man up and own it, then get back to work. You already have otherwise good work product, and that is of course your best defense to any screw up. If in addition to solid work product you are also generally well-liked by those who have interacted with you, you should be fine.

[Anonymous User]

I'm likely being neurotic, but I was wondering how bad a "fit" problem has to be to warrant a no-offer. I get along with everyone and I'd say lots like me and think I'm funny. There's one male associate, however, who seems to always be staring at me. He'll walk by my office and be looking in or I'll be walking through the hallways. When we make eye contact, he looks away really quickly. Neither of us says anything. We've gone to lunch before, but it feels weird. Is that enough to do it? Also, I'm not too close with my shareholder mentor. He has never given me work. Today he emailed me to tell me that he wouldn't be here my last week, but that he enjoyed working with me. He also wished my good luck with the coming school year. Finally, associate mentor keeps talking about my file and compiling all of my work product. It just makes me nervous. I'm probably being a crazy person though.

It's just bizarre that I keep hearing about compiling work and good luck with the year, when I know summers in other offices are hearing "don't worry. You're fine. If you were getting no-offered, you'd have an idea."

For what it's worth, my firm usually offers 90%+ nationwide. Any thoughts or am I just being an anxious mess?


For staring guy, he's given me about five assignments, no one has had any issues with my work product, and I'm a female if that matters. We've also gone to lunch a couple times too.

[jd20132013]

Wait, one associate has given you five assignments? How many assignments did you have that weren't from him?

[Anonymous User]

Wait, one associate has given you five assignments? How many assignments did you have that weren't from him?

I have a spreadsheet of assignments and it says that I've done 29 assignments. So 24. Haha. I have 3-4 people that consistently use me for Motions, memos, research all relating to one case. He and two other (one shareholder, one associate mentor) have also given me 4-5 assignments. The rest were all shareholders. Typically though, one I do work for someone, they use me at least 2 more times.

[the_phoenix612]

I'm likely being neurotic, but I was wondering how bad a "fit" problem has to be to warrant a no-offer. I get along with everyone and I'd say lots like me and think I'm funny. There's one male associate, however, who seems to always be staring at me. He'll walk by my office and be looking in or I'll be walking through the hallways. When we make eye contact, he looks away really quickly. Neither of us says anything. We've gone to lunch before, but it feels weird. Is that enough to do it? Also, I'm not too close with my shareholder mentor. He has never given me work. Today he emailed me to tell me that he wouldn't be here my last week, but that he enjoyed working with me. He also wished my good luck with the coming school year. Finally, associate mentor keeps talking about my file and compiling all of my work product. It just makes me nervous. I'm probably being a crazy person though.

It's just bizarre that I keep hearing about compiling work and good luck with the year, when I know summers in other offices are hearing "don't worry. You're fine. If you were getting no-offered, you'd have an idea."

For what it's worth, my firm usually offers 90%+ nationwide. Any thoughts or am I just being an anxious mess?


For staring guy, he's given me about five assignments, no one has had any issues with my work product, and I'm a female if that matters. We've also gone to lunch a couple times too.

You're being an anxious mess. Take a breath. One weirdo associate is not going to sink you.

[FeelTheHeat]

I'm likely being neurotic, but I was wondering how bad a "fit" problem has to be to warrant a no-offer. I get along with everyone and I'd say lots like me and think I'm funny. There's one male associate, however, who seems to always be staring at me. He'll walk by my office and be looking in or I'll be walking through the hallways. When we make eye contact, he looks away really quickly. Neither of us says anything. We've gone to lunch before, but it feels weird. Is that enough to do it? Also, I'm not too close with my shareholder mentor. He has never given me work. Today he emailed me to tell me that he wouldn't be here my last week, but that he enjoyed working with me. He also wished my good luck with the coming school year. Finally, associate mentor keeps talking about my file and compiling all of my work product. It just makes me nervous. I'm probably being a crazy person though.

It's just bizarre that I keep hearing about compiling work and good luck with the year, when I know summers in other offices are hearing "don't worry. You're fine. If you were getting no-offered, you'd have an idea."

For what it's worth, my firm usually offers 90%+ nationwide. Any thoughts or am I just being an anxious mess?


For staring guy, he's given me about five assignments, no one has had any issues with my work product, and I'm a female if that matters. We've also gone to lunch a couple times too.

He wants to bang you. HTH.

[jd20132013]

29 assignments in 9 weeks? That seems...high