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The Beefy Associates of Proskauer Rose

Monday, August 11, 2008 4:55 PM - By Kashmir Hill

Prosk Rose.gifDuring Kash’s brief foray into the world of corporate law at Covington & Burling, she was initially surprised by the party-hard culture at firm events. Once the majority of the partners left one Friday roof-deck happy hour, the event turned distinctly frat party-esque, with patio tables pushed together for rounds of beer pong.

A tipster sends word of a Proskauer Rose firm event turned Animal House scene. The summer associate class in the Boston office of Proskauer had no problem snagging offers this year — and some Proskauer attorneys were willing to risk their coronary health to bring them on board.

The full tale, with photographic evidence, is available after the jump. It involves lots of drinking, a lot of beef, and excessive eating — all the hallmarks of the summer associate experience.

From the detailed account, we suspect our tipster brought a reporter’s notebook along to the event.

[Last week there] was a farewell party for the Proskauer Rose’s summer associates in Boston. The venue was a nice-but-not-overwhelmingly-so covered roof deck at The Taj, overlooking the Garden and the Common.

Earlier that day, it was announced via e-mail that all of the sixteen summers in Boston had received offers, and that six had already accepted. Then another e-mail: make that seven. Then another e-mail: make that eight.

The excitement builds! Is it common these days to have play-by-plays on offer acceptances?

By the time the party was under way that evening, the managing partner mentioned in his token “what a great summer” speech that yet another four summers had accepted, so there were only four holdouts.

Then we all had lots of drinks.

Drinking at a summer associate event? Shocking.

The following is hearsay: One of the not-yet-accepted summers casually mentions to one of the partners that she’ll accept if the partner eats the remaining beef on the buffet.

Not hearsay: we’re talking about a whole loin of beef — at least four pounds, cooked. Note further, this is *after* everyone had dinner and dessert. Lengthy negotiations ensued, [which] got progressively more and more serious as they became more and more specific. (E.g., did the person eating the beef have to keep it down? Yes, for at least 15 minutes.) At one point, another interested summer associate checked in: “Hey… where are we on beef?”

In the end, the deal was that two summers would accept their offers if two associates could finish the remaining beef in 15 minutes. Two associates rose to the challenge, including one who, as I understand, was a former semi-pro linebacker.

While the beef was being consumed, one of the summers generously granted the associates another five minutes.

20 minutes later: beef consumed. Offers accepted.

By our count, there are still two summer associate hold-outs. If a partner chugs a gallon of milk in under ten minutes, will they accept their offers?

Here’s a photo that has been making the rounds, which we got our grubby paws on. We understand it was taken several minutes into the event, so much of the beef had already been eaten. But look at what’s left — that’s a lot of beef!
Proskauer Rose beef lovers.jpg

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Posted in: Food, Proskauer Rose, Summer Associates

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