Hi everybody,
I have a summer associate position lined up and it is starting in less than 3 weeks. I received a couple emails much earlier in the semester from the firm (one talking about start date along with asking about food allergies and such and the other asking about my preferences for a cell phone), but I haven't heard anything official about salary (NALP has numbers so I'm not curious about the actual salary, but they previously said they would finalize it at some point) or any of my preferences for what groups I want to work with this summer. I was told originally that a survey would be sent out asking about my preferences for groups within corporate practice. Has anybody heard from their summer firms about all of the concrete information regarding the job? Is this a cause for concern that perhaps I missed an email at some point? Should I email recruiting? Or should I just relax and go study for my finals and quit worrying about this and assume recruiting will contact me before I start?
Thanks!
When does your summer firm contact you? Forum
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Anonymous User
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UVAIce
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Re: When does your summer firm contact you?
Relax and study for finals is TCR. Once finals are over and its a week from your start date you can shoot your recruiter an email.
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OneMoreLawHopeful
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Re: When does your summer firm contact you?
I summered in 2013, so this info is a year old, but...
A lot of that might actually take place on the day you start for several reasons:
1) At some firms (at least 3 that I'm aware of) they have you meet with people on day 1 before you fill out your "practice groups preference." This is because law school is hilariously bad at letting students know what corporate/transactional work looks like, and the firm wants you to know a bare minimum before choosing from a list of groups blindly.
2) Some of that info (e.g. salary) is covered by state labor laws and will be part of a form disclosure similar to starting any other job (this will include filling out your tax forms and similar new-job-paperwork).
3) Sometimes they really won't even know if there is "summer associate work" available from some practice groups until the week you start. If all the cases in employment litigation just settled, it makes no sense to have 13 summers sign up for employment litigation on day 1 of the summer.
All in all, I wouldn't worry about it too much. My first day as a summer last year involved a 2 hour orientation that explained what I would be doing over the summer, then a ton of HR paperwork and training on the file system, a 2 hour "hey let's meet everyone!" lunch, and then 15 minutes of 1 substantive assignment that had clearly been cooked up during the lunch before I was taken to a "Welcome Happy Hour" at a nearby bar. From what I've heard, that's pretty typical, so I wouldn't worry too much about not being prepared for your first day.
If you have a start date, don't worry about anything else and focus on finals. You're get all the info you don't have yet once your start.
A lot of that might actually take place on the day you start for several reasons:
1) At some firms (at least 3 that I'm aware of) they have you meet with people on day 1 before you fill out your "practice groups preference." This is because law school is hilariously bad at letting students know what corporate/transactional work looks like, and the firm wants you to know a bare minimum before choosing from a list of groups blindly.
2) Some of that info (e.g. salary) is covered by state labor laws and will be part of a form disclosure similar to starting any other job (this will include filling out your tax forms and similar new-job-paperwork).
3) Sometimes they really won't even know if there is "summer associate work" available from some practice groups until the week you start. If all the cases in employment litigation just settled, it makes no sense to have 13 summers sign up for employment litigation on day 1 of the summer.
All in all, I wouldn't worry about it too much. My first day as a summer last year involved a 2 hour orientation that explained what I would be doing over the summer, then a ton of HR paperwork and training on the file system, a 2 hour "hey let's meet everyone!" lunch, and then 15 minutes of 1 substantive assignment that had clearly been cooked up during the lunch before I was taken to a "Welcome Happy Hour" at a nearby bar. From what I've heard, that's pretty typical, so I wouldn't worry too much about not being prepared for your first day.
If you have a start date, don't worry about anything else and focus on finals. You're get all the info you don't have yet once your start.
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Anonymous User
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Re: When does your summer firm contact you?
Thanks a lot! Very helpful info!
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girlrunning
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Re: When does your summer firm contact you?
If you just want to clear any worries, you can ask other classmates who are summering or have summered with the firm to see if you have received any info/when you will.
My second-half firm's HR email got lost somewhere in the Internets and I was sent a "reminder" from HR to fill out the paperwork due ASAP. I had a heart attack trying to put everything together in a few hours (as opposed to a month).
Chances are that's not the case at all, but you could just ask someone.
On that note, my first-half firm emailed me just last week and I start in less than two weeks. It was my jr./sr. chairpeople introducing themselves and the summer calendar. It seems that one firm is very laid back and the other is way ahead in HR forms, etc., even though it's second-half.
Again, an upper-L or fellow summer could probably assuage any concerns if it's bothering you enough to interfere with finals.
My second-half firm's HR email got lost somewhere in the Internets and I was sent a "reminder" from HR to fill out the paperwork due ASAP. I had a heart attack trying to put everything together in a few hours (as opposed to a month).
Chances are that's not the case at all, but you could just ask someone.
On that note, my first-half firm emailed me just last week and I start in less than two weeks. It was my jr./sr. chairpeople introducing themselves and the summer calendar. It seems that one firm is very laid back and the other is way ahead in HR forms, etc., even though it's second-half.
Again, an upper-L or fellow summer could probably assuage any concerns if it's bothering you enough to interfere with finals.
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northwood
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Re: When does your summer firm contact you?
focus on finals. When you are done with the last one, and you are still worried about it- contact the firm and ask if there is anything you need to do prior to your start date. If you have a mini break- give yourself a day to unwind then ask. if you start the monday after finals, then contact them when you are done.
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