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Summer Associate Classes Dwindle, Clients Grow Reluctant to Pay for Associate Training

By The Greatest American Lawyer

According to the New York Law Journal article Clients Grow Cool to the Support of Dwindling Summer Classes, this year?s summer associates will receive more substantive work and individualized attention as a result of the decline. Here are some excerpts:

"More and more clients don't want summer associates to bill to them," he said. "When I started almost all clients would accept it. And it's evolved to where a lot of clients don't." 

Law firm partners generally say they tend to write off much of the billable hours summer associates submit in recognition that, as lawyers in training, they are not as efficient as mid-level or senior associates. But when top-tier New York firms do bill for their work, the rate can go as high as $225 an hour, lawyers said.

This year's summer associates "have the ability to get a greater proportion of substantive work than if they were competing with a larger class, and they get more individualized attention from partners and associates," said Jonathan Schaffzin, co-administrative partner at Cahill Gordon.

Related Articles & Topics:

• As Summer Classes Plummet By 80% at Some BigLaw Firms, Clients Balk at Paying for Law Student Work, ABA Journal.
• Associates
• Law Students
  

Full post as published by The Greatest American Lawyer on June 09, 2010 (boomark / email).