Skadden Lit "competition"? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I heard that Skadden makes its associates do some kind of writing competition to get into various litigation groups, like white collar. Is there any truth to this? How does this go down?

[Anonymous User]

Bump. Is this real?

[Anonymous User]

Bump. Is this real?

No, it's not.

[Anonymous User]

You rank groups after your summer is over and you get notified a month later, maybe after Labor Day what group you get. You don't have to do a writing competition per-se, but Skadden's litigation focus summers have a summer long training involving writing and arguing a brief. Needless to say, your performance in the training is considered when you are being placed in oversubscribed groups like WC. There is no outright competition though, and most people are able to get their top groups.

[Anonymous User]

You rank groups after your summer is over and you get notified a month later, maybe after Labor Day what group you get. You don't have to do a writing competition per-se, but Skadden's litigation focus summers have a summer long training involving writing and arguing a brief. Needless to say, your performance in the training is considered when you are being placed in oversubscribed groups like WC. There is no outright competition though, and most people are able to get their top groups.

Lit training is conducted by the general lit (complex litigation and trials) group and has no bearing at all on whether you get into a speciality group like white collar. Folks from those groups don't even participate in the training and typically have no insight into it unless there are particularly noteworthy written evaluations on the training for a particular summer, which would be rare.

[Anonymous User]

You rank groups after your summer is over and you get notified a month later, maybe after Labor Day what group you get. You don't have to do a writing competition per-se, but Skadden's litigation focus summers have a summer long training involving writing and arguing a brief. Needless to say, your performance in the training is considered when you are being placed in oversubscribed groups like WC. There is no outright competition though, and most people are able to get their top groups.

My class (2021, satellite office) wasn't notified until our first day. We didn't do the brief training, either. Our summer program was shortened and entirely remote due to covid, so maybe it's different in normal years. As far as I know, everyone got their top-ranked group.

[Anonymous User]

They have a lit training that all the lit summers do and I remember some partners/associates jokingly calling it a "write on" or "competition" or whatever.

If you want lit and specifically one of the competitive lit groups (white collar) the summer itself is a competition - I don't think the training plays into it. If I remember correctly after that you submit some kind of ranking and they get back to you later in the year. During my summer the prospect of not getting the lit group you wanted did kind of add a level of anxiety, especially for the people who didn't learn how it worked until the summer was mostly over.

Like most things re: summer programs, the best way to succeed is making friends with the people in the group you want so like you and want to work with you, if white collar is something you really want.

[Anonymous User]

Skadden 2022 SA here, got into a litigation group. Realize I used the word "got", because it was actually competitive this year to get into lit, and it's common for the firm to even oversubscribe our gen lit group and ask first-years to switch to corporate instead. I speak from a NY Office experience though. This advice may not be applicable to other, smaller offices, such as BOS, or even DC (from what I heard, DC associates do not even get placed into a lit speciality group because there are only like 10 of them).

Re: "competition", aside from the mandatory gen lit training (or M&A if you're corporate), the firm offers smaller practice group trainings for particular groups that you can opt-in to. We -all- participate in either M&A or gen lit. It's required. Then we have optional supplemental trainings. This year, there weren't any optional ones for litigation (there might have been a special IP one, I can't remember, but there was Cap Markets, Banking, etc.). Since white collar is "hot" at the firm, older associates said there used to be a WCC one, where you would have to submit a writing memo on the presented issue at the end, but apparently that training generated too much interest among summers for an already small group, so they cut it. For other small specialty lit groups (Antitrust, International, Mass Torts), it -can- be difficult to get a spot, so you need to focus from Day 1. Take assignments when you can. Network with other summers, junior associates, senior associates are golden, and if you can, set up coffee with partners. Get an associate lunch buddy in the group you want, they'll introduce you to other associates in the group. Produce not good, but great, work, or partners will not take you seriously when it comes time to evaluate which summers they want in their group. This will be your practice group for the next couple of years, so sacrificing 10 weeks for an enjoyable 10 year career I found to be worth it.