A PSA from ATL: How To Treat Your Summer Associates
Yesterday we talked about how summer associates should comport themselves at their law firms -- at least if they want to get offers at the end of the summer. Now we look at the flip-side: How should permanent or full-time lawyers, such as partners and associates, treat summer associates at their firms?
Here's an email that went around the Houston office of Akin Gump. The advice is pretty sound, so we thought we'd pass it along to you (with some commentary appended).
AKIN GUMP (HOUSTON) -- MEMORANDUM -- SUMMER PROGRAM 2008Summer Program 2008: Dos and Don'ts
DO:
-- Coordinate lunches for the Summer Associate, especially in the beginning of the summer.
-- Introduce the Summer Associate to other associates and partners.
-- Help to control the Summer Associate work flow; help to find them work, if needed.
That last item may be easier said than done. See this WSJ Law Blog post ("This year, with the slowdown in transactions, some firms expect to have less to assign [to summer associates], particularly corporate work.").
-- Stay up-to-date on firm knowledge and issues so that you can honestly answer any questions. (Look at the "frequently asked questions" in the recruiting materials.)
Answer questions "honestly" -- but not too honestly. When asked about how much you work, trim the actual number of your hours by about 10 percent. And put a positive spin on everything. For example, if asked about the Akin Gump Escort, cite her as an example of how the firm is committed to hiring the best support staff money can buy.
-- Communicate often with the Summer Associate so that you can quickly handle any issues that may arise.
Communication, after all, is key to kindling romance with your SA. Recall that Barack Obama met Michelle Obama (née Michelle Robinson) when he was summering at Sidley.
-- Sell the firm with respect to the Summer Associate's career objectives and what our firm offers.
Sell, sell, sell -- this can't be emphasized enough. It's like that line from Glengarry Glen Ross: "A-B-C. A-always, B-be, C-closing. Always be closing! Always be closing!"
Additional tips for the care and feeding of SAs, below the fold.
Still from the Akin Gump advice email:
-- Check in with associates/partners with whom Summer Associate has worked and obtain feedback on progress/quality.-- Take Summer Associate to events outside of the scheduled firm Summer Associate events; use the firm seats, etc.
Oooh, firm seats -- sounds sweet. Anyone know where Akin Gump - Houston has its seats?
-- Talk to Summer Associate Advisor if Summer Associate is going down the wrong path.
Or not. In this grim economy, do firms really want to extend offers to 100 percent of their summers? And we need a few good summer associate scandals, just to keep everyone entertained.
-- Make sure that Summer Associate has been able to attend firm events, but is not getting overwhelmed with too many activities.
Not getting too overwhelmed by activities? Isn't that the whole point of summer programs?
That's it for the "do's." Here are the "don't's":
DON'T:-- Treat 1Ls and 2Ls differently: 1) they are all our future attorneys, and 2) they will all talk about their experience next year with their classmates.
-- Talk poorly about the firm or anyone it employs.
Unless they're out of earshot, in which case it's okay.
-- Talk poorly about other firms, especially those the Summer Associate may be attending in his/her second half.-- Gossip about other people (particularly summer associates).
But feel free to send gossipy emails to ATL, reachable at tips at abovethelaw dot com. Everyone needs an outlet for good gossip. And if you're not supposed to dish next to the physical water cooler, the virtual water cooler of ATL is the next best thing.
-- Overload the Summer Associate with your own work.
Doesn't that defeat the point of having summer associates?
-- Allow your Summer Associate to work late instead of attending summer functions.-- Only take the Summer Associate to lunch yourself - make sure they meet not only everyone in their section, but also as many people in the office as possible.
Unless your summer associate is an attractive member of the sex you find most appealing.
-- Ignore your Summer Associate.
Unless your summer associate is annoying, in which case, ignore away.
-- Allow your Summer Associate to stay on one project the entire summer; send them to the printer, off-site, to court, etc.-- Give the Summer Associate an unrealistic expectation of what life will be like at the firm so that he or she is disenchanted if they join the firm.
Query whether there's a tension between (1) sending summers to court, high-level meetings, and fun events, and (2) not giving them "an unrealistic expectation" of firm life.
And if there is a tension, the latter must yield to the former. After all, isn't giving prospective hires "an unrealistic expectation" of Biglaw the raison d'être of summer programs?
Earlier: ATL to Summer Associates: Welcome!
(44) Comments
Do be FIRST on ATL!
first...woohoo. very silly.
Are firms seriously thinking about cutting salaries??? I
Lat, talk about the proskauer kid in new orleans. you know that's juicy.
Who ever raised the rumor that firms will cut salaries? That's absolutely ridiculous. Any firm that cuts salaries will pay the price in recruiting, because I can assure you that not many firms will follow that lead.
Bonus, on the other hand, may be a different issue. But even in the downturn in 2001 or so, starting bonuses were still at $17,500 (equal to $23,000 today if you take the same percentage of the starting salary at the time).
"Are firms seriously thinking about cutting salaries??? I"
No. Relax.
Do not:
Forget to add ruffies to summer associate cocktail BEFORE propositioning them . . .
DO:
Repeatedly demonstrate your legal superiority to SAs. They are stupid, and they need to know it.
-Ovary Bell
Lat - poor show...
I can't believe you inserted a link to the text of the Glengarry Glen Ross screenplay.
If you're gonna rip off Dealbreaker.com, at least show the same class/technological wizardry they do and link to the youtube clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TROhlThs9qY
DON'T: Confuse TLT's with TTT's.
2:40 - comp committee member at marginal (or TTT if you insist) firm hoping to start a rumor or test the waters.
No decent firms will be cutting salaries. Just as no quality firm will do actual layoffs. However, many decent firms (e.g. DLA, Jones Day, etc.) will cut bonuses for this year to next-to-nothing (though they don't pay much of a bonus even in salad years). Many quality firms (e.g. Sidley, Mayer Brown, etc.) will cut bonuses in half for this year (and yes, before the Kirklandians bellow, we know, those firms don't come close to your bonuses).
Do: Encourage summer associate to surf Internet.
Don't: Yell at summer associate for surfing Internet.
How does an associate make sure the summers are at fancy events and not working nights and yet not provide "an unrealistic expectation of what life will be like at the firm"? When was the last time a partner told an associate to go drinking a couple times a week instead of finishing an assignment?
3:14 - I know we're in the year of the rat - what years are "salad years?"
3:35, year of the rabbit of course (*slaps knee*)!
Isn't there also a tension between not giving the SA an unrealistic expectation of life at the firm and not disenchanting him or her?
I am new to this site. What are TTT's and TLT's??
Roger Lou, to please be explaining the difference of the TTT and the TLT. With respect.
TTT = Third Tier Toilet
TLT = Top Legal Talent
诶比西
I heard UPenn's poor ranking this year (#77 U.S. News) will cause law firms to think twice before hiring their students.
I love summer associates. They're so happy :).
The Roger Lou posts are stupid and not funny. Go back to XOXO.
Oh yeeaaaahhhh, I know how to treat summer associates--bend 'em over my desk and tell my office mate to cover his eyes...
Funny how HR/recruiting fails to realize that email, in and of itself, pretty much guarantees that SAs will get unrealistic expectation of firm life, and that s/he will be disenchanted upon joining the firm.
2:41 -- Proskauer kid in NOLA? What's the story? I haven't heard it.
4:13 - "office mate" = TTT. (Or prestigious NY shop where people work because of the name even though day-to-day conditions suck.)
OH NO, DISENCHANTMENT!! If someone doesn't realize that a job that pays 4 times the average family's income to a 24-year-old isn't all roses and sunshine, then there's no helping them.
If the SAs truly believe that what happens during the summer is a realistic expectation of their full time career, then that's just idiotic. Everyone knows that they get pampered and they'll have to work their asses off come next year (or so I hope)
4:13 - "office mate" outed you as 1st year - or worse, 2nd yr still sharing office. Comment outed you as classless, misogynistic person who is still in "frat mode". Pity your mother...
"Oooh, firm seats -- sounds sweet. Anyone know where Akin Gump - Houston has its seats?"
who cares? you're still stuck watching the Astros.
4:52, incredible as it is, some SAs are that idiotic. They actually buy into the scam and believe that their sh*t don't stink.
wait a second . . . I don't get my own office?
what's so fun about being sent to the printers?
Agreed, 6:32. The only "fun" about being sent to the printer is that you're on the clock for doing next to nothing for much of the time you're sitting there. Woohoo...
While at the printer, you can sometimes drink on the clock too if your client's cool. But, I wouldn't do it as a summer.
Philly and Baltimore salary cuts in September
"You mean I get to play golf and take two-hour lunches for pay that is pushing five times what most people with "good" jobs in this country make once I get my bonus figured in? Wow, this 40-hour-a-week job is fantastic.
Harvey's a c@$ksucker.
Dearest Friend in 3:51 pm,
I am the Roger Lou and appologizing for knowing of the much need for Roger to chime in to, as you ask, " be explaining the difference of the TTT and the TLT." Thank you for the confidence to know that a student of the number one order from best school in Americas knows the difference in the legal terms of "TTT" and "TLT". Below I will be explaining.
TTT = Law firm or law school that we call the "toilet bowls." Some examples of the law firm toilet bowls are firms having a herpes epidemic and some examples of law school toilet bowls are any school not the "best in Asia" or "best in Americas". Ones that comes to the Roger's mind quickly are GULC and Loyola and Hofstra and Thomas A. Cooley. Those are what the college sports fans refer to as the FINAL FOUR of the TTT competition. Thank you.
TLT = top talent of the legal order. A phrase only that can be using by law firms to describe students from America's University, Washington College of Law or HLS. Rogers Oriental friends a lots of the good firms like Cravath and Wachtell and Sutherland say that recruiting managers at firms make 2 piles of resumes. Pile one is for TTT (like GULC or Loyola) which means to recruiter that the person no getting a job other than as secretary. Pile two is the pile of gold and is for TLT (only HLS and America's University). If in pile two, you get job at top firms and also distinction of acceptance in the legal community and Supreme Court Bar.
I hope my clarification does not come two late to help you understanding the difference between working hard at good schools like HLS and America's University, and being like smog and ashes and pollution at a TTT.
With respect,
诶比西
9:32,
how do you put sutherland with wachtel/ cravath? or loyola with gulc / cooley?
Yeah, 9:32-- GULC sucks, but it isnt cooley.
What the hell is a law firm doing with the name "Gump"? Is this a joke? Is there a law firm named Dork or Dweeb?
Don't do any of the following (Except for #6, all of which happened at the same dysfunctional firm):
1. Make the summer go begging for work
2. Assign a mentor to the summer who (a) is going to be out of town during most of the summer's assignment or (b) neglects to talk with the summer for weeks at a time
3. Forget when the summer's last day is
4. Allow the summer to walk out the door on the last day without an exit interview or any indication that anybody at your firm even knew he was there
5. Assign the summer into a different practice group than what he wanted to do
6. let the recruiting coordinator go through an entire 6 week rotation without talking to summers at remote offices
or (at a different firm)
7. Forget to call the summer to inform her if she has a job, even after she left several messages for you.