Legal News

For Summer Associates, Will There Be Enough Work?

By Jamie Heller

This year’s biglaw summer associates may be worried about whether they’ll get an offer in this economic climate. We can’t say.

But here’s something many will likely face: a shortage of client work. Summer law-firm programs are typically heavy on the play side of the work/play equation. Still, summer associates usually have to do some billable work for paying clients. This year, with the slowdown in transactions, some firms expect to have less to assign, particularly corporate work.

“It’s an issue for lots of firms,” says Bill Perlstein, co-managing partner at WilmerHale, especially in departments like M&A. “If you don’t have a lot of deals, it’s hard to find work.” Perlstein says that summer associates at WilmerHale who express a preference for transactional work are likely to be encouraged to try their hand at litigation and pro-bono matters.

David Gordon, managing partner of Latham’s New York office, says “it’s truly an objective to make sure the summers have an enriching experience” but that this year some departments may have to be “more creative because of the workflow” which in some areas is “not as robust as it was in prior summers.”

Summer associates may end up doing more “internal research projects” to increase the firm’s “knowledge base” as well as “mock deals,” he says. “And it will be important for partners at all of these law firms to be more involved in recruiting events” Gordon says, because there’s a chance that they will not mix with summer associates as much through billable work.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on May 13, 2008 (boomark / email).