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So my firm has about 1 social event per week. Last week's event was a wine tasting and I ended up having to tell recruiting I couldn't make it, which they gave me a guilt trip over. Now I'm freaking out that this could lead to a no offer, although I know that is probably irrational. I plan on going to all the rest of the planned summer events (provided no emergencies come up).

For context: I turned in this big memo assignment from a senior associate and partner on a case and ended up being given follow-up work on a brief (odd to me that they're giving me such important stuff so early on without having even read my first memo btw). They wanted it the next day, and the work has been taking me an exorbitant amount of time. I knew there was no way I was going to hand it in by the deadline if I went to the wine tasting, as the event was going to be several hours long and began at 4:30. To me, the deadline/work was priority over the social event, but recruiting acted like social should come before work? I also had meetings throughout the day, so I knew I would have to work on the brief later in the day and throughout the night to get it done and handed in. I explained all this to recruiting so they knew I wasn't just missing because I didn't feel like going or was trying to weasel my way out of it.

Also - is having to work this much as an SA normal? I don't mind it. But at our orientation they told us "you'll work on a couple assignments, but you'll be out the door early and the most important thing is to have fun and attend events." Yet, I've been getting assignment upon assignment, working until 11PM on assignments some nights, and working on weekends. Some of this is just the nature of learning new skills and working my way through really confusing projects. But I've noticed none of my peers have been experiencing this. Should I be concerned?

Missing one (or even a few) events is fine. While the recruiting folks will know, the attorneys won’t, unless it’s a very small summer class, and even then, they won’t care. Events are important for socializing and having associates get to know you, but it’s more important to have a good written work product since that will be reviewed and in your file. Of course, it’s best to do both and you should only skip if it’s something like you described below, but they recruiting group will understand — they are used to partner demands and will get that their projects come first.

As to whether the assignment is normal, it’s not what most summers will get but it’s not completely absurd, especially if that group is really busy (sounds like here they genuinely need your assistance, not just a phony assignment).

I agree with the poster above. You will not get no offered for doing work instead of going to social events. The converse may not be true--blowing off work that an attorney asked you to do so you can drink wine would look very bad. The work come first, just make sure recruiting knows that's why you're missing events. If you are missing events regularly, recruiting should know that too and may try to get your workload scaled back.

I think the amount of work summers do varies a lot by firm, office, and practice group. I worked some 60 hour weeks as a summer, while others in my class worked much, much less.

Anon because unusual.

I never went to any event involving alcohol or staying outside for more than 30 minutes, which meant I didn’t go to most of the events.

Nobody gave a fuck. Just make sure you still find someone to lunch with and aren’t a total recluse. Got offers after both 1L and 2L SA.

Sounds like you are being given too much work. At my firm, all assignments must go through the summer committee. The summer committee monitors summer associate workload. If your supervisors are giving you substantial follow-up assignments without going through the summer committee, that would not be the proper procedure at my firm. Your firm may be different, of course.

I agree that it's more important to do the work than to attend the summer event, provided that you are telling the recruiting committee (as you said you did). I also think it's unusual for you to be so loaded up with work that you are working weekends and late nights in early June, presumably only a few weeks into your summer. I am on the recruiting committee at my biglaw firm and if I found out about this, I would recommend that the summer HR team allocate work a little more equitably across the board. You are doing all the right things by letting the right people know, but it shouldn't be this way a couple weeks into the SA program. Somewhat unrelated, but in case it helps, I wrote down a few other tips for summers here: https://biglawadvice.com/2019/05/20/wha ... associate/