Former Summer Associate Taking Questions Forum

[Posner]

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[littlebit]

Congrats on the offer! During the summer, did you receive any help with housing? How many weeks was your SA program?

[Merrill]

Any tips on what to look for in a callback interview? Any questions you wish you'd asked in the interview?

[Posner]

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[NosferatuDracon]

I'm in.

[Posner]

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[lsb]

Any tips on what to look for in a callback interview? Any questions you wish you'd asked in the interview?

In terms of evaluating the firm, I would recommend looking at whether doors are open, how awkward the people are who are interviewing you, whether people greet each other in the hallways, whether people are smiling, and the overall demeanor of your interviewers. Remember that the firm tries to put its best face forward with its interviewers. If you have painfully awkward interviewers, it will only be the tip of the iceberg. One or two awkward interviewers is normal, because you may just not click and the law is filled with socially awkward people.

In terms of questions, I would ask how the assignments are doled out. Ask for specifics, do you get to see which assignments are available and get to pick them? Does your mentor pick them? Are they assigned weekly? As they come in? Firms really vary in their practices. Not sure that this is really all that important, but I had no idea what it would be like going into it. I would also ask about the role of the mentors assuming you have them. Do they check in weekly? Are they just there in the wings if you need them? What is the relationship like? Obviously this will vary, but some insight will be helpful.

In this economy, most are lucky to get one offer, so I would not be too cutting with your questions. Stay positive. I do recommend asking if your interviewer has worked at other firms, companies, agencies. If so, ask why they left for firm X? Maybe ask if they miss anything about their previous job. Tone is key. Stay upbeat, positive and friendly.

I hope this answers your question. If not, feel free to ask for clarification.

This in interesting. I never thought about looking for subtle clues like that which can actually tell you a lot about the firm

[lsb]

3K a week as an intern?!

Also, on TLS we constantly get bombarded by posts which say that graduates outside of the top 14 will receive NO job offers and if for some unusual reason they do, it will be 30k at most.

Were you just lucky or are employment prospects not as grim as TLS makes them out to be? What kind of offers are the people in the middle of your class getting out of curiosity?

[thesealocust]

3K a week as an intern?!

Also, on TLS we constantly get bombarded by posts which say that graduates outside of the top 14 will receive NO job offers and if for some unusual reason they do, it will be 30k at most.

Were you just lucky or are employment prospects not as grim as TLS makes them out to be? What kind of offers are the people in the middle of your class getting out of curiosity?

3K per week is roughly standard for a big law summer associateship.

Traditionally, outside of the top 14 schools the percentage of students capable of landing such associateships and the corresponding jobs quickly drops off from the 50%+ level for the T14 down to 5-10% of the class hit schools tanked 40-50 and below.

Even at those 'lower' schools, 5-10% of the students will (would?) consistently land extremely well paying jobs after law school. They exist, they give speeches, they post on TLS, they lead lives that aren't markedly distinguishable from T14 students who go to similar firms. And by simple math there are hundred - perhaps thousands in existence.

But when you look at the percentages, for every T2-T4 attorney making 6 figures there are likely between 5 and 10 T14 attorneys making that much and 10 to 20 T2-T4 grads struggling to find employment that pays well enough to service their debts. It isn't a matter of 'can I get a 6 figure job' - it's a mater of 'relatively speaking, how often can I get such a job'.

There's nothing that says you can't lead a happy, fulfilling life having taken on 200K in debt and starting a job for 40K. But most would prefer to start at 160, and that is an order of magnitude more likely from a T14 than from a T2 or below ranked law school.

[Posner]

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[Posner]

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[M51]

How did you approach your summer? Did you focus on taking on as many assignments as you can get your hands on, focus on meeting and getting to know as many summers/associates/partners as possible, focus on taking a well deserved vacation, or focus on trying to lead what you perceive to be a typical first year associate's lifestyle and seeing if it fit.

Would you have changed anything about your approach knowing what you know now about the summer experience?

[natalie123]

Tagging this one too

[Posner]

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[azlawlady]

It's all about expectations though. If you've never held a real job, any job may seem soul-crushing at first. If you've worked a really shitty job, any other job may seem like paradise.

This is some really great advice, especially for all the 21-23 year olds who go straight from UG to Law School. From what I've seen and heard it is these students and associates who whine and bitch and complain about how horrible BigLaw is, whereas people who have actually lived out in the real world and held real jobs (i.e. NOT working your typical college part-time job) appreciate so much more the opportunity to actually be compensated for the boring crap you'd be doing in any other job making a 1/4 of what BigLaw pays, and makes it sound pretty great.

[Apple Tree]

Great post!
Did you like you what you did? Was it tedious and boring?

[Posner]

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[JPeavy44]

Is your goal after graduation biglaw? If so, in your opinion is SA better than interning for a judge?

And was everyone in your SA program given an offer at the end?

[Posner]

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