Summer Associate Lunch Advice Forum

[Anonymous User]

I started my job as a summer associate with a big firm (major market) this week. I am very confused about the expectations and etiquette for associate lunches, and I am hoping you guys could give me some advice.

Specifically, I am not sure how often I am expected to go to lunch with the attorneys. Should it be every day of the week, most days, or is 2-3 lunches a week acceptable? And how should I go about setting up these lunches? I only know a few attorneys and I feel a little strange cold-emailing attorneys to ask them to lunch. And what is the etiquette on reaching out to partners for lunch? Is that a no-no, even if you met and interviewed with that partner?

I would so appreciate any advice or perspective you can give. Thanks so much!

[BasilHallward]

I started my job as a summer associate with a big firm (major market) this week. I am very confused about the expectations and etiquette for associate lunches, and I am hoping you guys could give me some advice.

Specifically, I am not sure how often I am expected to go to lunch with the attorneys. Should it be every day of the week, most days, or is 2-3 lunches a week acceptable? And how should I go about setting up these lunches? I only know a few attorneys and I feel a little strange cold-emailing attorneys to ask them to lunch. And what is the etiquette on reaching out to partners for lunch? Is that a no-no, even if you met and interviewed with that partner?

I would so appreciate any advice or perspective you can give. Thanks so much!

If it's anything like my summer, a few attorneys will take you out every day. To your second point, that's a little trickier. There is usually an associate assigned to you, either formally or informally, and you can use this "mentor" as a pipeline to partners. They can and will often set up lunches for you. My mentor asked me if there was anyone I'd like to have lunch with on a particular day, and I'd say "yeah partner X in practice group Y." The thing is that partners often have odd-hour lunches or lunches with clients, etc, so I wouldn't start cold-emailing for lunch. If you're working for a partner on a project and it feels natural, go ahead and ask.

[bobrino]

Check out attorney firm bios and send an e-mail saying you're interested in learning more about their practice group and asking to grab coffee/lunch when they are free. Shows a bit more thoughtfulness even though it is basically just cold-emailing. The associates know what the deal is for the summer and will generally be happy to get a free meal (unless they're totally slammed with work). You can then ask those associates about the other associates/partners they know/work with, and whether they think any of them would be available/interested for lunch. If there are partners you are really interested in working with, or have a previous connection to, it can't hurt to e-mail them expressing that interest/connection and asking if they have any availability. Worst case they don't respond because they're too busy and immediately forget you ever e-mailed them, best case you grab lunch.

Summer lunches are pretty casual. Some people go out for lunch five days a week. Some people, 2-3 days. I don't think it really matters unless you don't go out for lunch at all, which will make you seem disinterested and antisocial. But they're a great opportunity to make connections and get a sense for your future colleagues, so take advantage of that.

[cantdecide]

Each firm I summered at had a different system, so I'd ask your associate mentor (if you have one) or recruiting if they have a system in place or not and how to go about scheduling lunches. One firm had recruiting managing each summer's lunch schedule, so the attorneys knew when they were set for lunch with us but we didn't (i guess in case someone had to cancel, we didn't find out and feel bad? i didn't really think this was the best system). Regardless, we could manipulate that schedule to have lunch with people we were interested in meeting and getting to know better by talking with recruiting. At the other firm it was a free for all. We could ask people, or more often than not, someone would drop by your office to ask you to go, or invite you along on a lunch they had scheduled with another summer. At my friend's firm, they were explicitly told that summers were expected to approach attorneys and ask them to lunch, which put them in charge of their own schedule but also put the scheduling/initial ask on them as well.

I'd go as frequently as possible—at the least, it's a free meal. It's one of the best way to get to know people, especially attorneys that don't attend the evening events. If I was ever not feeling very social or was worried about being able to carry a conversation, I'd ask another summer to come along (or tag along with their plans) so that I could have someone else to help keep the conversation going.

[Anonymous User]

I started my job as a summer associate with a big firm (major market) this week. I am very confused about the expectations and etiquette for associate lunches, and I am hoping you guys could give me some advice.

Specifically, I am not sure how often I am expected to go to lunch with the attorneys. Should it be every day of the week, most days, or is 2-3 lunches a week acceptable? And how should I go about setting up these lunches? I only know a few attorneys and I feel a little strange cold-emailing attorneys to ask them to lunch. And what is the etiquette on reaching out to partners for lunch? Is that a no-no, even if you met and interviewed with that partner?

I would so appreciate any advice or perspective you can give. Thanks so much!

Go every day. Pop your head in somebody's office and just ask. I'm on my firm's hiring committee, and we take it as a huge positive when summers are making the effort to be proactive and meet people over lunch. Partners are totally fair game, but I'd recommend you invite an associate they work with as well (helps you get a sense of working relationships and is nice for the associate).