Open Thread: Nationwide Start Date Round-up

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If you’re a 3L or a clerk with a Biglaw job offer, congratulations. If you were hoping for a traditional start date in the fall, you may be a little disappointed though. Many a firm has pushed its start date for incoming associates into 2010.

Yesterday, Milbank Tweed informed associates that it’s pushing back start dates from October 2009 to January 2010. From a tipster:

This was done [Monday] afternoon by phone from partners (probably from the practice groups where incoming associates are slated to go) and an email went out later. Old Start Date: Oct. 19, 2009. New Start Date: January 25, 2010. $10,000 stipend + the $10,000 you can get as a salary advance + moving expenses + bar expenses.

Incoming associates at Arent Fox and Fulbright & Jaworski are also reporting that their start dates have been pushed back to January 2010. A spokesman from Arent Fox tells us that a lucky few still have the option to start this year though:

A number of third-year law students who were offered a position with Arent Fox will start on November 1, 2009 as previously planned. The remaining 3L students offered a position with Arent Fox have had their start dates deferred until Feb. 1, 2010…. Arent Fox is providing a stipend plus bar exam fees for those whose start date has been deferred.

We’ve got a round-up of start dates at over 20 Biglaw firms after the jump, most of them set to welcome new associates in 2010. We invite you to supplement start date information in the comments, or by e-mailing us with “Start Date Watch” in the subject.


Here are the firms for which we have start date information. We’ve also included the amount of the deferral stipend when it’s known to us (this stipend is often in addition to a salary advance and/or bar exam fees).

  • Alston & Bird – January 19, 2010 ($10,000 stipend)
  • Arent Fox – November 1, 2009 for some; February 1, 2010 for others (Unspecified stipend amount)
  • Ballard Spahr – September 2010 ($45,000 stipend)
  • Clifford Chance – 20 incoming associates will start in January 2010 ($10,000 stipend); About 30 others will start in October 2010 (stipend of $3,335-$5,000 per month).
  • Chadbourne & Parke – January 2010
  • Cravath – October 2009, November 2009 or January 2010
  • Debevoise – 2009, baby! September 21, October 12, October 26, or November 16
  • Dewey & LeBoeuf – January 11, 2010 ($5,000 stipend)
  • Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge – March 1, 2010
  • Fried Frank – January 28, 2010 ($10,000 stipend); Fall 2010 ($70,000 stipend)
  • Fulbright & Jaworski – January 11, 2010
  • Hogan & Hartson - November 30, 2009
  • Holland & Knight – January 11, 2010
  • Latham – December 2009; October 2010 ($75,000 stipend)
  • Milbank Tweed - January 25, 2010 ($10,000 stipend)
  • Morgan Lewis – October 2010
  • Morrison & Foerster - November 2009
  • O’Melveny & Myers – December 2009
  • Nixon Peabody - January 2010
  • Ropes & Gray – January 2010
  • Squire Sanders – January 19, 2010
  • Venable – January 2010
  • Weil Gotshal – January 2010 ($15,000 deferral stipend); January 2011 for others ($75,000 stipend)
  • White & Case – November 2009 for 40% of new associates; 2010 for the rest

    • This is an open thread for associates-to-be to brag about 2009 start dates or lament 2025 start dates. Also, feel free to send us more information at tips@abovethelaw.com with “Start Date Watch” in the subject.

    Earlier: BigLaw to 2009 Graduates: See you in 2010!

    Prior ATL Nationwide Start Date Watch coverage

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